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Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya started up at his new highschool.  He had managed to get into UA with a much better score than he had anticipated.  Apparently running towards a murder robot to save a girl you just met, and subsequently punching that murder robot into the sun, was a good metric for your potential as a hero.

“Maybe you should stop staring and go in?”  Whispered a little  gravelly voice from his hoodie.

It took all of Izuku’s will not to look and glare at the feline kwami.

“He’s wondering if his belle ange will be in his class.”  Said another voice with a purr of delight.

“Plagg, Roaar.  If both of you don’t duck down and be quiet, I will take the miraculous off and you can go dormant until I get home.”  he hissed under his breath.

They both laughed at the empty threat but did go quiet.  Izuku sighed in frustration

+x+

3 years ago, Izuku had been scouring thrift stores for a birthday present for his mom.  He didn’t have much money, but he knew she needed a bigger jewelry box and surely he could find something in good condition?

He had been trying to pull a long blue box off of a shelf that was just a bit higher than he could reach, when the box toppled off and landed on his head.

“Hey Kid!”  The man behind the counter yelled, he stood and moved to where Izuku was pulling himself up.  “Be more careful!  If you break something I will make you pay for it!”

Izuku stood up sharply, “S-sorry sir!”  He handed the man the box that had hit him on the head.

He scoffed at the apology, “Just ask for help next time.”

Izuku nodded and began looking at the shelves again, when he noticed something else had been moved forward by his mistake.

“Uh sir, is that thing a jewelry box?”  He asked, pointing to a dark wooden box maybe a bit bigger than a shoe box.

The employee looked at what Izuku was pointing at and sighed.  “I don’t know, maybe?”

He pulled it down and handed it to Izuku.

The box was octagonal and was made of a wood so dark it was almost pitch black.  There was a swirling red pattern on top that Izuku had never seen before.  And 12 little drawer’s lined the sides.

“No ones been able to open the damn thing since we got it.  We think it's some kind of puzzle box?  Or it’s just for decoration.”  The man told Izuku.

Izuku looked up excitedly at the words ‘puzzle box.’   

He liked puzzle boxes!  Last year he got one for his birthday and now he kept his hero signatures in it, at least the ones that weren’t in his notebooks.

“How much?”  The greenette asked eagerly.  Maybe if he figured out how to open it mom could keep her jewelry extra safe!

+x+

Izuku did not have much luck opening the present he bought for his mom.  No matter what he did he couldn’t get the mystery box to open.

He had tried every trick he knew, turning it upside down, spinning it, pushing and pulling at the panels, he even shook it to see if that gave anything away.

But no, the box hadn’t budged an inch.

Finally Izuku set the box on his desk and just stared at it, as if the box would just tell him its secrets.  It had to open, why else would there be hinges on it?

“I’m not giving up.”  He told the box in a serious voice.  “If I’m gonna be a hero I gotta be the best problem solver!  I’ll keep trying until I figure it out!”

To his massive surprise, something did happen.  A little ball of light began to form around the top of the box.

Izuku squeaked in shock and jumped backwards.  Was the box a bomb?  Had he broken it?  What was with the light?

But then the light formed into a tiny green plushy.  It looked like the kind of design you’d see in a show for kids with its bright green body and the turtle shell on its back.

“You said you wish to be a hero?”

Izuku starred.  Did that plushy just talk?

The plushy thing floated into the air and drifted forward, it had huge yellow eyes that looked down at the boy.

“Uh- yeah.  I wanna be a hero!”  Izuku said, wondering why it asked.

The plushy seemed to consider this.  “My name is Wayzz, I am a kwami.”

Izuku uncurled from his defensive pose a bit.  “What’s a kwami?”

“In brief, a kwami is a concept given form.”  Wayzz explained, “I am the kwami of protection.  And one of my jobs is to protect the miracle box.  That there.”

It pointed at the puzzle box.

“Miracle- box?”  Izuku moved to sit next to the box again.

“Indeed,” it told the boy, “Tell me, what’s your name?”

While he felt it was a bad idea under normal circumstances to give out his name to strangers, he for some reason didn’t feel in danger.

“Midori- uh that is- my name is Izuku Midoriya.”  The greenette told him.

“And tell me Izuku, why do you want to be a hero?”  Wayzz continued.

Izuku swallowed. “I- I wanna help people.  I know things can get really bad sometimes, that people can be really bad- but I wanna remind everyone that there are good people too!  Like All Might!  I- I wanna be one of the good ones.”

“You don’t need to be a hero to be a good person”  The kwami tilted its head.

“Maybe,”  Izuku said, “But if everyone thought like that, then there wouldn’t be any heroes would there?  Shouldn’t a good person want to do something?”

Wayzz smiled.  “Good answer.”

The previously unopened box suddenly flipped open and more lights began to zoom around the room.  They too formed into kwami’s each with their own colors and features.

A ball of pink light and a ball of shadows twisted around each other before solidifying into a red and black kwami.

The red one looked at him with big blue eyes and a kind smile.  “Greetings, we are the kwami of the celestial miracle box.  Ally to heroes.  It’s nice to meet you new guardian.”

Chapter Text

When Izuku became the sole guardian of 19 magical pieces of jewelry the last thing he expected to do was have to mediate an argument on which got to go to school with him each day.

Naturally, Roaar stayed with him as his kwami partner.  A choice that he would never admit to picking because of the similar powers to All Might’s.

But after a while the kwami began to get curious about the outside world.  They had reached an agreement that the kwami would take turns going to school with Izuku.

And through Izuku’s sheer bad luck that Plagg was scheduled for his first day of highschool.

The little god of destruction was always scheming, pulling pranks on his classmates or causing small amounts of damage to Aldera’s property as revenge for their blatant disregard for his well being.

Trixx wasn’t much better, but would often throw his voice to distract people instead of say- putting rotten cheese in their locker.

Izuku did his best not to groan at the reminder of that particular prank gone wrong.  He had been blamed, which to be fair he wasn’t entirely innocent-  if he ordered the kwami’s to stay home the problems would cease.  But that would also mean going back to taking the abuse with no distractions.

“Best behavior.”  He reminded them one more time before walking up the steps to UA high.

His miraculous, a green gemmed bracelet a silver chain that looped around his middle finger, was a constant reassuring weight on his left hand.  The sound of the beads clattering against each other when he moved his wrist to remind him he wasn’t alone.

Izuku began his trek to his homeroom class, hopes high and determined.

+x+

In hindsight maybe he had gotten his hopes up a little too high.

Sure, the nice girl he saved was in his class and the boy who snapped at him for mumbling had apologized.

But Bakugou was in his class for the 9th year in a row!  And their teacher already seemed to hate him for whatever reason.

Izuku had pulled his gym uniform over his miracle suit.  Which was a simple number of black combat boots, dark magenta leggings with black knee pads.  His torso was a sleeveless hoodie in the same magenta color but with a patch of a pinkish-white on his stomach and his stomach was framed in black.  He also had a black leather jacket with silver hardware, but he had forgone that.

His hood thankfully also came detached so he had shoved that in his locker along with his jacket.  He did still have his arm braces but doubted anyone would give him too much trouble about those.

Izuku had been making it through each of their teachers' physical tests with average results.  He was agile and steady in each exam.  The tiger did its best work unseen until it struck, so Izuku didn’t try to gain any more attention than necessary.

But there was one test where he was sure to surpass the others in.

“Midoriya,”  Mr. Aizawa, “You’re up.  Don’t forget, anything goes so long as you stay in the circle.”

Izuku caught the ball that was tossed to him and stepped up to the plate.

He reeled back his arm.  Got into position and was about to call for his power when he promptly had to do his best impression of fumbling.

“Agh!”  He still let the ball fall from his hand and roll just outside the circle.

He had figured out who Mr. Aizawa was pretty easily, he had seen Eraserhead in person before, so he knew what he looked like, or at least he knew his outfit and hair- he hadn’t exactly gotten a look at the man's face from his observations under Trixx’s mirage.

So he also knew that his hair was the dead give away to when Eraserhead was using his quirk.  And since Izuku had no idea if that was effective on Magic yet he needed to air on the side of caution.

“You were about to risk injuring yourself to use your power again.”  Their teacher started.  “That’s a blatant flaw in your control and would leave you vulnerable.”

Izuku was puzzled.  Clout hadn’t done anything to injure him, other than leave him a bit tired it wasn’t much of a problem at all.  “What?”

“You injured yourself at the entrance exam.”  Their teacher clarified.

The greenette finally put together what the man meant.

“Oh!”  Izuku slapped his forehead.  “It wasn’t my quirk that caused me to get injured at all!  I mean- my landing sprained my ankle, but the bruises and scars weren’t from that!  I just exacerbated them and tore them open is all.”

The punch had enough force to tear the jacket’s sleeves to ribbons.

“I had gotten involved in a nasty event the day before,”  Izuku explained, flexing his arm.  “A villain sorta dragged me into a hostage situation and- well I got pretty roughed up.  I was fine and got bandaged up but no one there could heal me- so I just went home.  That’s why I was holding back most of the exam, I didn’t want to do more damage.”

He showed off his arm which currently only had a bruise on his forearm smaller than a coin, and a few fully healed scars that appeared rather old. “I’m all good now, so no chance of me injuring myself, I promise!”

After considering this, Mr. Aizawa nodded.  “You better be telling the truth, because if you injure yourself again, you're out.”

Izuku nodded and retrieved the ball.

+x+

Shouta Aizawa was skeptical about the boy's claim, what were the odds he’d get so banged up and happen to get one of the only hospital response teams without a healer of any kind?  

But he was willing to let the kid test his luck, it’s not like it hurt Shouta to let him try and potentially bang himself up again.

As the kid got ready to throw again there was a very weird feeling on his leg.  Assuming it was a bug, Shouta looked down to try and swat it off.

But there was no bug, instead he looked up to see he’d missed Midoriya’s throw and only felt the shockwave behind it.

It had the same force Shouta had consciously known Midoriya must have had, and the baseball sailed far into the midday sun until it wasn’t visible anymore.

Midoriya’s small bruise was slightly larger but otherwise he was perfectly fine.  The scars stayed closed and there wasn’t even a scratch of anything new.

‘705.3 meters’

Well then.  That solved one problem for him.

+x+

As he was leaving the field Aizawa heard an annoyingly familiar voice.

“You lied.”  All Might said plainly.  “One, there is literally no way Midoriya made it in last.  I watched that entire thing and he should have been in the top ten at least.  Two, even so, you expelled an entire class last year, why did you let Midoriya stay?”

They both glared at each other, all though it would be hard to tell since All Might’s face had maybe 2 expressions and Aizawa’s face was 90% obscured.

“He’s got potential, so I didn’t expel him.  As for the fixed results, I didn’t want him to get too confident, I don’t appreciate being lied to or given excuses.”  The dark haired man said plainly.  “He’s on strike one, but he’s not out yet.”

All Might laughed, “Midoriya is a lot of things but he can’t lie himself out of a paper bag.  He really did get caught by a villain the day before the exam.  And I should know, I’m the one who saved him.  His injuries were from him falling into a large amount of metal scraps that the villain threw him into before I threw them into the ocean.  Coastgaurd had to fish him out.”

That was a surprise, All Might wasn’t exactly a subtle guy, how had this not been on the evening news?  Had they just missed it?

“You seem to know him pretty well,”  Aizawa said, raising a brow, “It’s odd, you're playing favorites rather early in the school year…”

All Might looked confused, or at least as confused as he ever looked while still smiling.  “Well, isn’t that obvious?”

Aizawa scoffed and turned away determined to go nap in the teachers lounge before they made him do anything else.

This school year was already shaping up to be a massive headache.  He needed coffee, and alcohol.  Maybe not in that order though…

Chapter Text

“Izuku!”  Daizzi flew up to land on the guardian's head the second he entered the door.

“Hello Daizzi, how are you?”  He reached up to give the piglet a scratch on the tummy.  “What mischief did you guys get into today?”

“No mischief, just fun!”  She insisted.  “We made brownies!”

That immediately concerned Izuku as the kwami’s all had a terrible understanding of how to use most modern appliances.

“Please tell me Nooroo was in charge…”  He mumbled.  Out of all the kwami’s Nooroo adapter to change the best.  Therefore he had taken it in stride to learn how everything in this strange new world worked.

Tikki had learned to use the oven before but tended to get impatient and would rush things at the end to get to the baked goods first.

“He supervised.”  Daizzi confirmed.  “Now come have a brownie!”

Being unable to sulk about his first day when the actual embodiment of jubilation was sitting on your head he did in fact go and get a brownie.

They weren’t perfect by any means.  They hadn’t greased the pan and the middle was a tad more batter-ey than you would normally get.  But they were still Brownies, and therefore tasted like chocolate gooey goodness.

Izuku sat down, content to enjoy his brownie before unpacking everything that had happened today.

He had begun scanning hero news before the front door opened with a soft click of a spare key that had Izuku sulking in his chair again.

“So today- could have gone better.”  Toshinori admitted.

Izuku slammed his head against the table and groaned.  “You think?”

“It wasn’t all bad though, right?”  He double checked.  “That girl you saved was in your class?  And the rest seemed- nice.”

Izuku picked his head up off the table to glare at the blonde.  “If the words ‘One for All’ or ‘Vestige’ leave your mouth before the end of the week, I will undo every drop of healing we’ve achieved in one fell hit, do you hear me?”

“I wouldn’t!”  Toshinori insisted.

Two years ago, Izuku had gotten saved by his number one hero, and then again, and again, and again.  Basically every time he wore Plagg’s ring or Tikki’s earrings out, a villain would somehow target Izuku and All Might would be there to save him.

It had become such a frequent occurrence that one day while comforting the stressed and exhausted 12 year old All Might finally asked if he just had the world's worst luck or if this was somehow a quirk effect.

Izuku had broken down in tears, admitted he didn’t have a quirk, bawled for half an hour over every single shitty thing that had happened to him in the last three days and the blonde hero just- listened.

Finally, getting sick of everything Roaar had taken it upon herself to reveal her existence and tell the man what was up.

“This boy here has been given a great responsibility and is currently drowning in it.  If you are half the hero you claim to be you won’t ever chastise him for his bad luck.  It’s not his fault after all.”  Roaar had told the bewildered All Might, who was currently starring with his mouth open and smile gone.  “He’s been through a lot.  Surely you must know someone who can help him?”

Apparently the ‘someone who could help him’ was All Might himself.

The bond between the two had grown fast, maybe it was the similar pressures they were under, or the fact they were both born into a world destined to hate them.

After Magic had become an option the two had quickly put together a way to start healing the injured pro, though the process was slow and any new injuries would set them back to square one.  There was no way All Might would stop doing hero work, even for the 3 months it would take to make some serious progress.

On top of that Izuku couldn’t maintain that kind of power for long without putting major duress on his own body.  Something that Duusu warned them was a risk.

“I’ve had holders who tried to stretch beyond their means before Izu.”  She had told him very seriously.  “RIght now you have headaches and drowsiness, but if you push much further the worst could occur!  Organ failure, brain damage, death!”

Tohinori heard this and shot down the idea of them doing more than one healing session a week for Izuku’s safety even though he could manage 4 or 5 with the proper rest.

“No reason for us to both be dying kid.”  He told the boy.

Izuku glared down at his shaking hands after a healing session cut short when he nearly fainted.  “One day I’ll learn how to handle this.  One day I’ll heal an entire city of people- and not feel a thing.”

“And that city will be lucky to have you.”  Toshinori nodded.  “Just like I’m lucky to have you now Izuku.”

Inko Midoriya had been shocked to find out her son had picked up a strange man who also claimed to be quirkless.  But had quickly brushed it off since he seemed very kind and seeing Izuku smile was such a rare treat.

Izuku had also grabbed half of his All Might merch and shoved it in boxes under his bed, less his favorite hero saw how much of a fanboy he really was.  The empty spots on the shelf had been replaced with merch for other heroes and things the Kwami’s liked.

There was an unwritten agreement between the two.  Izuku would help try and find a new holder for One for All, having turned it down so as to not add more to his plate, and All Might would look for people who would be well suited to receive a miraculous.

If anything should happen to one of them, Toshinori knew where the miracle box was hidden and the combination to open it.  And Izuku had a hair in an envelope tucked into one of his first hero notebooks.

The biggest upside to being the number one hero's friend and confidant was you got to start hero training much younger than most.

Izuku absorbed all the information he was given like a sponge, he had been to All Might’s hero agency, as a family friend of ‘totally not All Might: Toshinori.’  And gotten to see how the pros there trained and kept their skills sharp.  He had gotten dozen’s of autographs that day and had nearly doubled his yearly notebook output.

He also got to learn fight training and how to best use the skills he was given.  Which was very useful seeing as Villains kept trying to use him as hostage or saw him as an easy target.

“The guardian of the celestial box has an interesting weight put upon them.”  Tikki had explained, “As this is the box of both creation and destruction, and Fortune and Misfortune, you have an interesting relationship with Luck.  Your luck will hit some of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, usually in quick succession.”

This handley explained several things.  One why he kept getting used as a hostage or otherwise got attacked, and why his favorite hero of all pros was almost always the one pulling him out of danger.

The day before the entrance Exam Izuku had been finishing up their cleaning of Dagoba beach when A villainous chase was brought straight to him.

Izuku barely had time to react to being grabbed, before the villain was being grabbed by Toshinori, who had been mere feet away when it happened.  Izuku had been knocked back and landed in the pile of scrap metal he’d just been moving.  But he hadn’t gotten much more than bruises and scratches from that.

And of course the response team didn’t have a healer so he’d just had his arms cleaned and wrapped before going home.

He was at least relieved to know that if this was bad luck, it would bode well for the entrance exam the next morning.  Something he had to reassure his mentor with as they began the trek back to Izuku’s apartment building.

Chapter Text

The staff members of UA had collectively decided to watch All Might’s first hero class’ recordings in the teacher lounge.  Seeing as it was the closest thing to having time to go to the movies that they got nowadays.

Hizashi was currently making a truly absurd amount of popcorn, while Snipe was pouring what was definitely not alcohol into a slushy machine.

Nemuri had already claimed her chair and had been tasked with connecting Shouta’s laptop to the projector, which was a struggle seeing as his laptop was password protected at half the prompts and the man in question was currently passed out on the couch to her right.

She kept having to poke him awake to type in the passwords which ranged from the incompetent to absolute nonsense.  After which he’d immediately go back to sleep.

“You are gonna actually watch the fights right?”  She confirmed during one of his brief moments of consciousness.

He hummed in what was probably an affirmative, typing in the final password and lying down again to sleep until everyone else was ready.

Ken put down a tray of definitely not alcoholic drinks on one of the mini tables of the teachers lounge and also sat down.  Soon the rest of the teachers had finished what they were doing and joined in.

The exception being Nedzu, who no doubt had either already watched them or was watching them currently.  Chiyo, who said she’d join them later.  And Toshinori, who was apparently making adjustments to his teaching plans already and would most likely join them when he finished.

The first trial, Bakugou and Iida as the hero team with Midoriya and Uraraka as the villains, was also the one they were most eager to see.

Apparently it had resulted in the only serious injuries of the day and had destroyed the entire fake building they had been in.

They had access to the two team’s earpiece recordings and therefore got pretty clean audio of the villain team confirming that they understood the idea of the trial.

+x+

“Look,” Bakugou told Iida.  “Deku and I have a score to settle.  So do whatever you want, but don’t get in my way.”

Iida had been surprised at the resentment between the two.  “Can I ask why you two seem to hold such a distaste for each other?”

Bakugou didn’t answer him.

Meanwhile, inside the building a very similar albeit less hostile conversation was happening.

“I know Ka- Bakugou is going to gun for me the second the trial starts so it would be better if I met him head on while you defend the weapon.  If I can take him out then I’ll rejoin you, I’m sure you can hold Iida off .  If not, well he punches with his right arm first.  That’s about the best advice I can give you if I’m honest.  He’ll still be mobile even if you make him float since we're in an enclosed area.”

“You said he called you Deku as an insult.  And you two seem to know each other pretty well-”  Uraraka started.

But Midoriya shook his head.  “I’ll explain someday I promise, but- let’s just say I don’t hold as high an opinion of him as I used to.”

The trial began and, just as both said, Bakugou immediately ran into the building and called for Midoriya to come out and face him.

The villain team had moved the bomb into a section of the building that had tight corners and not many entry points, no doubt to inhibit Iida by preventing him from going at top speed.

Midoriya had slid up a face mask and flipped his hood up.  He was careful to move silently and hide in the toughest spots to spot him.  Despite his hood and pants being magenta, he did a remarkably good job at disappearing.

Midoriya looked towards the roof and unwrapped the weapon around his belt.

His bolas wrapped around one of the exposed rafters and with a jump he was pulling himself up.

Now in the shadows of the ceiling, Midoriya began to creep around the high ground with the grace of a cat.

Bakugou was careful, checking corners before moving on.  Iida was still behind him, seeing as there was no reason not to be.

Bakugou suddenly heard a yelp and felt someone crash into him.

“Get Off Me You Idiot!”  Bakugou yelled, shoving Iida off of him.

Something wrapped around the blond’s wrist and he felt a sharp tug, pulling him up off the ground before it slackened, dropping him onto Iida again.

There was a cord and three balls that pulled into the shadows of the roof.  A pair of green eyes stared down at them.

Midoriya pounced, capture tape in hand.

Bakugou had just enough time to kick Iida off of him and roll away.  Bakugou got to his feet rather quickly, but in a full suit of armor and not used to it, Iida had a bit more trouble.

Midoriya, now caught between his classmates and not wanting to stay there, spun his bolas before jumping up and over the still rising Iida.

“Come and get me!”  He called over his shoulder, his hood falling down as he ran.

Bakugou followed in close pursuit abandoning his partner to follow the greenette.

Midoriya was slower than Bakugou when the blonde was able to use his quirk, but in the tight corners, a blast could accidentally send him into the wall instead.

Midoriya was playing a game of cat and mouse all while mumbling his whereabouts to his teammate.

He must have been cautious to use his power since it was such a destructive force and could do more harm than good in this tight space.

Once they were as far from Uraraka and the bomb as possible Midoriya finally turned to face his opponent.

“Now you're gonna get it!”  Bakugou yelled as he dove for the greenette.

Midoriya grabbed his right arm and twisted, flipping him over his head and slamming Bakugou into the floor.

He stepped back and reached for the capture tape- only to come up short.

“Damnit, must have dropped it.”  Midorya said, grabbing his bolas instead.

He refocused on the blonde.

“You know, what you said yesterday- it was kinda true.”  Midoriya started.  “Not that you would have listened even if I did tell you.”

“I knew it!”  Bakugou said, taking another swing and grabbing Midoriya’s hood to keep him in close range.  “You did all this to make me look like an idiot!”

The greenette dodged a blast by twisting so his body was practically sideways.  The hood snapped off and Bakugou was quick to throw the fabric away as the bolas swung for his head.

“You don’t need my help for that!”  Midoriya said, pulling the weapon back and slipping a ring over his finger to use his weapon at a shorter range.  “Besides, after everything you did, why would I give you that kind of advantage?”

Midoriya dropped to the floor and attempted to kick Bakugou’s legs out from under him.

Bakugou shifted his weight and slammed his heel into Midoriya’s leg.  The teen cried out but swiftly aimed another kick which meant the blonde jumped back.

“I don’t owe you anything!”  Midoriya continued.  “We aren’t friends.  You’ve made that abundantly clear!”

He backed up and the chase started again, Midoriya did his best to try and lose the teen on his tail, but Bakugou was adapting to the building fast.

“Why would I want to be friends with a weakling like you?!”  Bakugou shouted, and with a burst of speed he managed to catch the greenette again.  “The only way you can make yourself look good is by cheating!”

“Oh!  Is the kettle calling the pot black?”  Midoriya said with an audible sneer.  “In case you haven’t noticed, you cheated at life!”

They grappled for a second and Midoriya managed to roll away, but there wasn’t anywhere to run, his only option was a closed off room, or get past Bakugou.

“You had everything!  You’ve had our teachers on your side since we were 5!”  Midoriya said, taking wild swings with his bolas.  “Your parents adore you, you were born with a crazy strong quirk.  All I've heard my entire life is how amazing of a hero you would be!  Everyone praised you, even me!  And what did I get for it?!”

Midoriya’s bolas wrapped around Bakugou’s arm and dragged him closer in order to land a punch to his gut.

“I’m done listening about how amazing you are, I’m done saying how amazing you are!  I will never, NEVER , say another kind word about you.  I won’t give you the benefit of the doubt.  I won’t sit there and take your abuse.  You wanna be a hero?  Then Act Like It! ”

Bakugou shoved the greenette away and reached for his gauntlet.

Midoriya’s eyes had enough time to widen, before the world went white.

Chapter Text

All of the teachers had leaned forward as the two argued. But now they jolted as the blast from Bakugou’s gauntlets appeared to fry the cameras.

“Damn it!” Hizashi yelled. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t even remember those getting approved!” Higari sounded horrified. “What the hell were they thinking!?”

Aizawa had actually sat up, though it wasn’t clear what he was thinking about the whole situation.

“How did Midoriya even walk home, he should be dead?!” Ken added. “A blast like that at such close range.”

“Midoriya only had a burn on his face when he came in.” Chiyo told the group. She had joined them around the time the two boys had begun a proper fight “I didn’t realize how he got it. That boy is either incredibly skilled, or just extremely lucky.”

They tried to find footage of the rest of the fight in the recordings, but besides Uraraka and Iida facing off, which Uraraka managed to succeed in by catching her opponent the second he entered the door and routinely knocking him back- they didn’t see anything for the other two until a second blast shook the whole building.

“Sorry Iida!” Uraraka shouted, grabbing him and launching him out of one of the newly formed holes in the building. “Release!”

The boy dropped very sharply back to the sidewalk where he groaned.

With no further clarification on how the fight ended, the only answers would have to come from-

“I’m getting All Might.” Nemuri was the one to finally put her foot down.

“You do that.” Chiyo agreed. “He came to check on Midoriya after the trials but both left fairly quickly. I’d like a full explanation as well.”

Seeing as they had no idea where the man in question actually was, they called him instead.

“Hello?” Came the man's tired voice. “What’s up?”

“We need you in the teachers lounge. Now. You’ve got explaining to do.” She said quickly.

There was silence on the line for a second, Nemuri almost thought she heard another voice but wasn’t positive.

“Is this about the battle trials? Young Midoriya and Young Bakugou?” He asked.

“Uh huh, so get over here fast.” She hung up.

It took the number one hero five minutes to arrive from wherever he was beforehand.

“Right, so I’m guessing you watched the fight already so what do you want to know?” He asked them, taking a seat and looking around curiously.

“What the hell was that!” Hizashi started them off with the most prominent thought on their mind.

Toshinori opened his mouth, closed it again, then said, “Can you be a bit more specific?”

They all starred. In the admittedly short amount of time they’d gotten toa actually know Toshinori, he hadn’t said anything with that much snark before.

“The fight, after Bakugou blasted his gauntlet, the feed cut,” Chiyo explained. “I personally would like to know how Midoriya walked away from something like that with only a burnt cheek.”

“Okay-” The blonde appeared to be contemplating. “In short- Midoriya managed to get into a side room off of the hall they were in. He got blasted back but didn’t get burnt. Then they yelled some more, I won’t repeat what they said as it was rather crass.”

He paused to think again before continuing.

“When Young Bakugou decided to use his other gauntlet, Midoriya met it by using the force of his punch to send the blast upwards and away from them. Thankfully the room Young Uraraka and Young Iida were in wasn’t too damaged. And the timer ran out before Bakugou or Iida got the weapon so the villain team one.” He finished. “Young Uraraka got MVP, I scolded Bakugou for not listening when I said not to use the second gauntlet, and Midoriya got a burn on his cheek from the second explosion. So I sent him and Young Iida to Recovery Girl. That’s about it.”

He said it with so little fanfare that he felt he was describing a tv show or movie rather than an actual real life event that had happened less than 3 hours ago.

“Was that it then?” Toshinori asked, looking around to see if there was anything else. “Or did you want to know about the other trials too?”

“Was there something to say about the others that were on that level?” Ken asked worriedly.

Toshinori answered with a very casual tone. “Everyone did remarkably well in my opinion, Young Todoroki demonstrated excellent control of his quirk. Oh, it was brought to my attention that Young Mineta made more than one inappropriate comment about his female classmates. But that’s not directly related to the battle trial- I wasn’t sure when else to bring that up though-”

Aizawa had stayed silent throughout everything but raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ll handle it.”

“Good.” Toshinori nodded, “anything else?”

This time it was Aizawa who asked, “You seem to know Midoriya pretty well already, so maybe you can tell us. What is his and Bakugou’s issue with one another anyway?”

Toshinori made a small “ah” noise.

“That is a very long story, so I suppose I’ll give you the short version-”

He sat back, already meaning this would take a while.

“As you may have gathered from their altercation, Young Bakugou and Midoriya have known each other for most of their lives.” Toshinori started. “Their mothers are close friends, and they were raised like cousins for the first 5 years of their life. When something happened- something out of Midoriya’s hands, Bakugou began to resent him for it.”

There was the slightest twitch in Toshinori’s face as he continued.

“I won’t say exactly what happened, that’s not my information to give out. But let’s just say it was a very one sided resentment that wasn’t handled by the adults in their lives properly.” He said in the most diplomatic way possible.

Most of them had a pretty good idea what that might entail.

Most of them had been teaching for a few years now, they knew the polite way to say ‘bully.’

“Midoriya however, did not lose any affection for Bakugou and looked up to him for several years. He didn’t hit his breaking point until around the time they both were twelve. Now they can’t stand to be in the same room for more than an hour without fighting.” He turned to Aizawa. “Good luck with that by the way.”

The man groaned at the thought and banged his head against the back of the couch.

“So they’ve been at eachothers throats constantly for two years now?” Snipe asked, wondering how this wasn’t something they were well aware of.

“Pretty much, though when not forced to be together I think both prefer to avoid interacting. But I can say I’ve never heard more than one polite sentence between the two of them.” He looked amused slightly. “And then, it all came to a head about a year ago now, when their hatred for each other took on a new height. When Midoriya did something that Young Bakugou will never forgive him for.”

The idea of Midoriya, the kid who looked like he’s cry if he stepped on an ant, would do something so heinous seemed like a stretch to most of them.

But after seeing him and Bakugou actually tear into each other- maybe that was a facade.

“Well what was it?” Hizashi snapped, clearly unhappy with Toshinori’s dramatic pause.

The man looked over at him. “Hmm?”

Hizashi looked ready to slap him in frustration. “What could Midorya possibly have done that was so terrible that they now have a blood feud.”

“Oh, a blood debt.” Toshinori explained calmly. “Forged when Midoriya saved Young Bakugou's life.”

Chapter Text

Izuku had left school at a fast pace, only spending an extra minute to grab his now soiled notebook from the fish pond.  Thanks for that Bakugou.

Well at least it was his hero research and not the one on the miraculous.  Having to rewrite all of that coded information would be a nightmare.

As he hurried to meet his mentor Izuku grabbed paper towels from an outdoor cafe to wrap the notebook in before shoving it into his school bag.

“You know, you’d get there much faster if you went by roof?”  Stompp said in his ear.

The ox miraculous was currently pinned to the inside of Izuku’s collar, seeing as he couldn’t explain away a nose ring like he could with other miraculous.

“No way, it’s broad daylight,”  Izuku pointed out.

“Just put on your hoodie and not one will notice.”  Roaar suggested.  “Well- they might but you’ll probably just get mistaken for those parkour artist people.”

Izuku had taken to keeping a hoodie or jacket with him at all times in case he needed to transform.  He might be able to play off his tiger suit as off fashion- but bull horns?

“We’ll keep that in our back pocket.”  Izuku said in compromise.

Five minutes later he was entering a store and looking around.  He spotted a spike of blonde hair a few aisles over and walked to join him.

“I’m here.”  Izuku greeted his mentor.  “Sorry I’m late.”

Toshinori smiled at him, “That’s quite alright young Midoriya, you didn’t have to come at all so I can’t complain at you being late.”

Izuku shook his head.  “I don’t mind helping you carry groceries.”  And he took the basket from the blonde.

“I’m not made of glass.”  Toshinori reminded him.

“No, you're not.”  Izuku agreed, but he continued to carry the basket anyway.

When prompted about his day Izuku talked about their teacher's reminder about planning for the future.

“Since we’re so close by, everyone in my class wants to go to UA,”  Izuku explained.  “I think most are gonna try for the hero course, because why not?  Bakugou is, he’s as vocal as ever about that.”

“And how is young Bakugou?”  Toshinori asked as he compared paper towel brands, “Is he still giving you trouble?”

Izuku grimaced at the thought of his soaked notebook in his bag.  He almost said no, before remembering he was a bad liar especially when it came to keeping things from Toshinori, or his mom for that matter.  The blonde was already giving him an unimpressed look, no doubt seeing the lie coming.

“He kinda damaged my hero analysis notebook and threw it out the window into the koi pond…”  Izuku trailed off before sighing.  “And I know what you're going to say…”

“That both I and your mother would have no qualms if you broke his nose?”  The blonde raised an eyebrow.  “Because that’s what I was planning to say.”

“I knew it would be some variation.”  Izuku grumbled, dropping dish soap into the basket.  “But shouldn’t you be telling me to take the highroad or something?”

“Maybe if I didn’t know you so well.”  The secret pro selected his paper towels and added them to the basket as well.  “But since I know all the hell he’s given you, I can’t exactly condone such villainous behavior can I?”

Izuku sometimes missed the days when his mentor wasn’t fretting over him all the time.  Then again, all that fretting was what let Izuku get close to his favorite hero, so maybe he shouldn’t complain too much.

It was weird having an adult care about him though.  His mom loved him, sure, but he had kept all of this from her so as to not worry her.  Only for Toshinori to spill the beans after having to take Izuku to the hospital for a severe burn on his wrist from one of Bakugou’s temper tantrums.

“When he gets into UA-”  The teen said, because it was a when, not if.  “You aren’t going to treat him differently than any other student right?”

Toshinori looked ready to say no.

“I don’t mean like- if he doesn’t fix his behavior I don’t mind his getting disciplined or anything, but I want you to do your job as a teacher, not as someone who knows me.”  Izuku clarified.  “I can fight my own battles in that sense.”

Toshinori knew in theory that Izuku was more than capable of handling himself.  Not only had he overseen half the kid’s training, but he also knew that the bracelet on his wrist was more than a fashion choice.

“Then why don’t you?”  Toshinori wondered.

“Because I’m not gonna stoop to his level.”  The greenette sighed.  “I’m gonna take the highroad, regardless of if you think I should.  I can defend myself now, Bakugou hasn’t dared attack me in over a year.”

He had gotten a detention for that.  The rest of their class claimed he instigated the fight when Izuku had nearly broken his ex-friends arm for trying to hurt him.  Apparently Izuku’s strength had been much more  than the blondes as they had just stared at each other while Bakugou tried and failed to free himself.

He thought the fear of embarrassment was stronger than Bakugou’s fear of Izuku.

“I’m playing the long game.”  Izuku insisted.  “If UA is half as good as it’s supposed to be, Bakugou's in for a big wake up.”

They checked out and Izuku was holding two bags while Toshinori carried the other.

People were lining the streets as they exited the store, Izuku paused, looking perplexed.  A rush of something green was careening down the road.

“Another villain, seriously?”  One of the onlookers asked their friend, still looking at the slimy apparently villain running away.

Another one sighed, “Guess all the heroes are still busy from this morning.  Oh well, someone will catch him.”

“Your apathy is inspiring.”  Izuku mumbled to himself.

“Here, hold this.”  Toshinori passed Izuku the final grocery bag.

“Ah what?”  Izuku bemoaned taking the bag and looking frustrated as his mentor checked that no one else was paying attention to them.

“Sorry, go put them in my apartment please?”  Toshinroi mumbled as he buffed up into his hero form.

“SOMETHING WILL BE DONE.”  All Might told the very surprised crowd.  “BECAUSE I AM HERE.”

And as frustrated as he was, Izuku couldn’t deny the joy that welled up inside of him everytime he heard that catch phrase.

The teen huffed a smile and began walking to the apartment.

“Figures,”  he hummed to himself.  “I come to help carry groceries, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

He better get a detailed explanation of this fight when it was over.

+x+

Izuku was taking a back alley route to get back to Toshinori’s apartment.  Since All Might was out and about the streets were filling up with people wanting to catch a glimpse of the pro.

This meant if he wanted to get anywhere fast he couldn’t just waltz down the sidewalk.

He was shifting all the bags to one arm so he could fumble for the spare key in his backpack.  Thankfully the people at the front desk had gotten used to seeing Izuku with Toshinori and wouldn’t question his presence.

As he was pulling his bag off to look with his eyes and not just his hands, the greenette heard a very familiar sound.

There was a loud explosion somewhere nearby.  And Izuku felt a small pit in his stomach.

Surly there were more people with explosion quirks out there.  Or it was a gas leak, or a car accident.

But as the sounds of blast continued Izuku found himself deviating from his path.

This wasn’t even on his walk home, so the chances- unless he wasn’t walking home…

Izuku peaked around a corner, and felt that sinking feeling grow tenfold.

Bakugou was currently being suffocated by the same villain All Might had run off to fight.  Where the hell was he?

He promptly ducked back and ran through the options in his head.  He could try and call Toshinori and get him here.  But he knew from experience trying to get the man to pick up the phone while he was hero-ing was like trying to get Duusu to stop nesting in his sock drawer.

It wasn’t gonna happen.

Why were the heroes just standing there?  Shouldn’t they be doing something?

“You're going to help him aren’t you?”  The kwami had flown out of his book bag and were looking at him.

Izuku stared at them for about 3 seconds.

“I’m not letting him die.”  Izuku decided, grabbing his hoodie out of his bag.

Here was to hoping he didn’t get arrested for vigilantism.

“Roaar!  Stripes On!”

Chapter Text

Katsuki Bakugou was not having a good day.

Seeing as being suffocated by a super villain didn’t qualify as pleasant, he felt he was justified in that statement.

There was a lot of fire around him now, the blonde realized through the fog that was already wrapping his mind.

Katsuki’s lungs were burning too.  He hadn’t gotten to breathe in a little while now.

In all honesty, it had never occurred to him until now that he might actually die.

He didn’t think this was how he’d choose to go-

“HEY!”  Someone screamed, they were somewhere behind him.  “LET HIM GO!”

Something hit the slime villain in the eye and while he screamed, Katsuki sucked in a desperate lungful of air.

Bakugou got his first look at the person who was trying to save him.  They had a black hoodie and black face mask- but based on their height, they couldn’t be older than him?

“Hey Kacchan ?”  They said with a tone that was almost insulting.  “Need a hand?”

“De-ku-”  The blonde spat out before coughing up bits of the villain.

“Sorry villain but I’ve invested way too much time into this guy to let you kill him.”  The teen- Deku, said readying his stance.  “So in the wise words of my mentor-”

He reeled back his arm and bands of vibrant pink light began wrapping around his arm.

“ DETROIT! SMASH!”

+x+

Izuku felt the wind whipping around him, it was like standing in a hurricane.

The attack had been calculated- All Might had taught him that how he attacked was just as important as when.  If he could end the fight in one blow, he should.

The force of the punch prevented the villain’s body from coagulating and would prevent him from reforming, Izuku was fairly certain about that.

As the wind spiraled into a tornado that reached the clouds, Izuku grabbed Bakugou’s arm and held on tightly, digging his boot’s clawed toes into the ground as he fought to stay standing.

As the wind subsided, Izuku felt most of the miraculous’ strength start to leave him.  He wouldn’t have long before his transformation fell and he didn’t want to explain that to the public.

A drop of water tapped against his hood, then another.

Izuku looked up to the sky.  The clouds were circling overhead, and rain was beginning to fall on the scene, putting out the fires around them.  There were bits of sludge villain everywhere.

“You okay?”  He asked Bakugou, who was just staring at him, mouth agape.

The crowd was whispering amongst themselves.  And the pro heroes gathered did not look pleased.

Oops, better get out of dodge- last thing he needed was to get arrested…

“AH HA!”  There was a small shake of the earth as a very familiar figure landed beside Izuku.  “SO THIS IS WHERE THAT VILLAIN RAN OFF TOO!”

Izuku’s eyes panned up to the pro with barely contained frustration.  “And where were you exactly?”

All Might, to his credit, looked ashamed.

“I HAD BEEN FORCED TO FOLLOW THIS VILLAIN INTO THE SEWERS.  UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT THE SEWER SYSTEM HERE IS RATHER TRICKY TO NAVIGATE!”  The number one hero said while patting Izuku on the back.  “I WAS GETTING READY TO TRY AND FIND AN AERIAL VIEW TO SEARCH FOR THE VILLAIN.  BUT IT APPEARS YOU BEAT ME TO THE PUNCH, NO PUN INTENDED.”

Izuku felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards at the pun.

“All Might.”  The heroes had approached them.  Death Arms was currently looking between Izuku and the pro.  “Do you know this- person?”

All Might turned to look at him, very clearly trying to figure out how to justify knowing Izuku.  Izuku almost smelt smoke by the time his mentor figured it out.  “INDEED I DO!  I’VE BEEN MOSTLY INTENDING TO KEEP THIS QUITE, BUT NOW I THINK IS AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY TO SAY; I HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE ON THIS YOUNG MAN AS MY SIDEKICK!”

Izuku had expected several lies about how they knew each other, and he was very grateful that the mask was hiding his face as his reaction to that would Not have aided in the believability.

He found himself torn between exasperation, shock, and overwhelming joy.

Sure no one would really be able to recognize him while he was transformed right now- but All Might claiming him as his sidekick?!

Izuku felt tears start demanding to be spilled and tried to recover before it became obvious.

A sharp beep brought him back to reality, shit he only had a minute left before he transformed.

“Shit, the groceries!  I gotta go!”  And he bolted to where he had let them and his school bag.

Once he was well out of sight and the transformation fell away, Izuku shoved his hoodie into his bag and slipped into the crowd to finish watching the pros and All Might, who had stopped anyone from following the teen.

“I BELIEVE THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION WOULD BE TO BEGIN COLLECTING THE PIECES OF THE VILLAIN BEFORE HE HAS A CHANCE TO REFORM”  The number one told the others who still looked like they wanted to chase Izuku down and demand answers.

Bakugou was still staring at where he’d disappeared.

“That was scary…”  Izuku mumbled, entirely honest.

A man next to him looked over, a massive grin on his face.  “Yeah but we got a first look at All Might’s new sidekick!  How cool is that?”

Izuku managed a very shaky thumbs up, very relieved that no one made a connection between him and the mystery sidekick.

The greenette sighed as All Might began speaking with the press and a medical team arrived to check on Bakugou.

“MY SIDEKICK HAS YET TO CHOOSE A HERO NAME FOR HIMSELF AND WOULD PREFER TO KEEP HIS IDENTITY A SECRET FOR NOW.  BUT I’M SURE YOU’LL SEE MORE OF HIM SOMETIME SOON.”  The blonde was explaining.“

“All Might, your sidekick appeared much younger than anyone you’ve worked with before.  Is there a chance he’s still a hero student, potentially attending your alma mater?”  One asked.

All Might considered the question.  “INDEED, HE IS MUCH YOUNGER THAN ANY SIDEKICK I WOULD NORMALLY CONSIDER WORKING WITH.  BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU, HE’S MORE THAN SKILLED ALREADY.  AS FOR HIM ATTENDING UA, I’LL KEEP THAT PART OF HIS LIFE PRIVATE AS WELL.”

Izuku was grateful, because if he didn’t manage to get in then that explanation would suck.

No doubt people would be combing through the last two years of sports festivals to try and find someone matching Izuku’s powerset.  They would be sorely disappointed.

Izuku sighed in relief as All Might took his leave and began hurrying to Toshinori’s apartment again.

+x+

The collective staff at UA were all looking at the blonde like he had grown an extra head.  Chiyo in particular looked slightly murderous.

“So that mystery sidekick who debuted a few months ago?”  Hizashi said in a much slower voice than any of them had ever heard before.

“Indeed.”  Toshinori nodded.  “I thought it was rather obvious once you all saw him handle the zero pointer.  Who else would it be but Midoriya?”

Chapter Text

There were many things Izuku had come to expect when he started UA. The quirk apprehension test had been a bit of a blindside, but he had been the one to help Toshinori with his lesson plans so on that front he probably had a better idea than most of his class of what they would be doing.

Which is why Izuku was going to kick All Might for using up all his time before the day even started.

+x+

Somewhere several miles away, a blonde pro felt a sense of dread wash over him.

“And what would that expression be for?” Nezu questioned him.

Toshinori sighed. “I feel like I’m in imminent danger from Midoriya right now…”

+x+

His absence was relevant because apparently today of all days was when villains decided to attack campus.

Izuku was cursing his bad luck.

“What do I do-” Izuku mumbled.

Roaar was rubbing against his cheek from the inside of his hood. He didn’t want to transform prematurely. Roaar’s ability to hold a transformation and energy was much lower than most other kwami. The longer Izuku spent transformed, the less strength he could put into Clout.

He usually didn’t even have five minutes before he transformed after using it. All of Roaar’s energy was put into one attack.

“Izuku.” Tikki said slowly, she had been the one to join him for class today. “If you need to use my miraculous I wouldn’t mind it.”

“But that would expose our secret…” Izuku shook his head.

He looked a few meters away where Tsu and Mineta were also keeping an eye out for villains.

He would need to separate from them if he wanted to transform.

“Tsu, you should take Mineta and get out. I can cause a distraction.” He told them as he peered over the edge of the boat. “If I aim it properly I can turn the water into a whirlpool and trap the villains. Once I do it’ll knock me back and I should make it to the shore, or at least close enough.”

“But-” Tsu started, “That would leave you alone- kero.”

Izuku shook his head and smiled. “I think you two should go and try to help our classmates in the other simulations. I’m going to go back up Mr. Aizawa. If he needs an out I can give him one.”

And he would have time to recharge. Not to mention send Tikki to go get help.

“You two get as close as you can to the shore, I’ll see you when this is over.” Izuku promised.

Mineta looked at him like he was crazy. Tsu’s expression was somewhere between impressed and questioning his intelligence.

“Okay.” She decided.

“Fine then- let’s just go.” Mineta hissed.

Once they had moved to the far end of the ship Izuku did his best to hide from view.

“Tikki, fly back to campus and tell All Might what’s going on. Try not to be seen getting out of here okay?”

Tikki nuzzled her head against Izuku before phasing through the floor and outside.

“I think it’s our moment to shine.” He told Roaar. “If they want All Might- they’re gonna go through us first!”

“Let’s cause some havoc!” Roaar agreed. “Let me hear you say it!?”

Izuku grinned. “Roaar, Stripes On!”

Izuku felt Roaar’s magic wrap around him. It was loud, that was the best way to describe it. Like when you turn the music all the way up and can feel it shake your bones.

Now in the much more durable hero suit- Izuku peered, flipped his hood up and pulled his mask into place.

“Right, Let’s Go!” He hopped up onto the ship's guard rail and jumped, he had angled himself so after he landed the punch, he landed close to the rocky fake waterfall.

“Clout!” He focused all of his power to the very tips of his finger. With a flick, all of the force was focused into a burst tight enough to send him flying back. “GO TSU!”

He saw her jumping, she wasn’t quite at the edge yet but she should make it. Mineta had apparently decided to help out and was throwing the balls on his head. The villains were getting stuck together.

And that was what Izuku saw before he landed hard on the ground, rolling a few times before digging his feet into the ground.

“That-” He breathed, a smile forming on his lips. “Was fun!”

+x+

Tikki flew faster than she’d ever dared to before. The guardian was in danger, his whole class was in danger! She needed to tell Mr. Toshinori before something worse happened!

She flew low to the ground as she followed the streets she remembered the bus taking when they had rode to school.

The red kwami was panting with worry and exhaustion as the UA building came into view.

Where would he even be? Where did the teachers go when they weren’t teaching?

She flew to Class 1-A for lack of anywhere else to go.

There was a map on the wall near the door.

“Teachers Lounge- teachers lounge- there!” Tikki dove into the ceiling and began to fly above the hallways so as to not risk being seen.

She managed to find the teachers lounge, and Mr. Toshinori was there- but he wasn’t alone.

The person Izuku had shown them a picture of and explained he was the school's principal was there too.

Tikki was torn. Could she get Mr. Toshinori’s attention without being seen?

She had to try, for Izuku and his classmates' safety's sake.

The creation deity flew through the wall and tried to fly behind the- mammals’(?) head.

Tikki wasn’t sure humans had come up with a word for what the principle was yet.

She waved frantically and All Might jolted at seeing her. Tikki pointed to the door.

“AH! One second I forgot something!” Mr. Toshinori ran out of the room, Tikki going through the floor and wall to meet him.

She flew up to meet his face as the door slid shut.

“What’s wrong? Where’s Midoriya?” he asked frantically.

Tikki was shaking as the exhaustion of flying all the way here started to wear on her. “Villains- they attacked the USJ, the kids are still in there and they got scattered!”

“Shit.” Toshinori pulled at his hair. “SHIT!”

And All Might was blasting down the hall and towards the exit.

“Wait!” She called after him! “You should- tell someone else!”

But he was too far gone.

“Well.” Said a voice from behind her and Tikki squeaked in fear. The Principle had apparently followed them out of the room. “And who might you be?”

Tikki wondered if she could play herself off as a hallucination. “Uh-”

Well she had already been seen.

“I’m Tikki, I’m a kwami, I’m not evil and there are villains attacking your school!” She spit out before flying as fast as she could in the direction All Might had left. “They’re in the USJ!”

Izuku wasn’t going to be very happy with her…

Chapter Text

Izuku had let his transformation fall after taking account of any injuries on him.  Just a few scrapes he was happy to announce.

“Stripes Off.”   He said and Roaar appeared in his hand.

He pulled a little bag of apple slices from his pocket.  “Sorry I don’t have any durian on me.”

She took the treats all the same.  “That’s alright, Apples are yummy too!”

Izuku nodded and let her eat while he peered over the edge of the waterfall.  The villains were all clumped together in a mass thanks to Mineta and wouldn’t likely be able to get out any time soon.

“Do you think they’ll really kill Mr. Toshi?”  Roaar asked him.

He looked at the kwami as she ate another apple slice.  “No.  They may try, but we’ll stop them.”

Roaar grinned at his continued optimism.  She finished the last of the apple slices and head butted Izuku affectionately.

“You got this!”  She reminded him.  “You’re the guardian of the miraculous and a great hero!”

Izuku chuckled.  “Roaar, Stripes On!”

As she fused with his bracelet one more and the power of the miraculous returned tenfold Izuku began to creep around the edges of the lake.  He needed to get close enough to see how Mr. Aizawa was fairing.  If it was handled, then he could go and check the other structures for his classmates.

He stayed low to the rocky outcrop of the watered edge as he looked into the center of the USJ.  Mr. Aizawa appeared to still be in top form, and the number of villains had plummeted significantly.  But a keen eye told him Eraserhead was getting tired.  No doubt his quirk was also hitting its limit.

Note to self, buy him more eye drops as a thank you for saving their asses.

Izuku was forced to watch his teacher's arm be partially dissolved, like it was being eaten away like rust on a metal beam.

He readied himself to step in.  Especially once the mist villain joined back in.

These two weren’t just regular villains, they were clearly higher up and had way more strength.

Izuku already knew two of their quirks, and they most likely didn’t know his.  So that just left the big guy- the one who was breaking Mr. Aizawa’s arm.

Izuku swung out his Bolas and pulled at the monster’s arm to try and give his teacher some breathing room.

“No- get- out!”  Mr. Azawa was glaring at him.

But Izuku didn’t leave.  He stood and planted his feet firmly in a fighting stance.

“You said you guys wanted to kill All Might right?  Well let’s see if you're up to the test?”  Izuku goaded them.

“I know you-”  The hand villain mumbled.  “How do I know you?”

“Shigaraki Tomura.”  The mist villain interjected.  “I believe this is the sidekick All Might introduced.”

The hand villain- Shigaraki apparently- laughed.  “A child?  How pathetic.”

The villain steadied his stance.

“I’ll enjoy killing you!  It’ll make his failure hurt that much worse!”  Shigaraki yelled as he ran forward.

Izuku spun his bolas once and ran forward.  Once close enough he skidded onto the floor, using his bolas to bind the villains hands together and limit his reach.

“No touching!”  Izuku yelled as he rolled to a stand again.  He tugged on the weapon, letting Shigaraki tip over as he tried to free his hands.  “Strike one!”

He heard the air being displaced a split second before something was smashing into his back.

“Ow-”  he groaned as he landed against a wall.  The monster had body slammed Izuku out of the way.  “Guess I have to deal with you first then?”

“I wonder- with you being All Might’s little copycat.”  Shigaraki had stood, and Izuku grimaced as his bolas was reduced to a pile of dust.  “This might be a good test for Nomu here.  So go ahead and try your fancy punch, little wannabe hero.  Nomu here had shock absorption, it won’t do you much good.  You’d need to carve out his flesh to kill him, but I doubt you’d be allowed to do that…”

Izuku grunted with effort as he extracted himself from the damaged wall.

Shock absorption huh?  Well that muddled his initial plan quite a bit.

Mr. Aizawa was definitely still alive, but Izuku doubted he was in any condition to fight.

And Tikki wasn’t back yet.

Izuku let his mind whirl as he planned.

“Telling me your weapon’s power?”  Izuku said idly, “That’s strike two!”

The monster only attacked Mr. Aizawa after Shigaraki told it to.  But it attacked Izuku as soon as Shigaraki was in any sort of danger.

Even now it was just standing there, waiting instead of trying to take Izuku down.

Time to test his theory.

He began running back towards the center, sliding around the monster and over to Mr. Aizawa.  It didn’t do more than let its eyes follow him.

“Sorry, need to borrow this.”  Izuku grabbed the man's scarf.  He may not have his bolas, but the capture weapon would work just as well for his plan.

“So, your big guy won’t attack me unless you tell it to.”  Izuku wrapped the scarf around his forearm.  “Good to know.”

“Aren’t you sharp- Nomu…” The monster reared towards the teen who, to the shock of both villains, ran to meet it.

“So-” Izuku wrapped the center of the scarf around the Nomu’s arm and began diving around it, letting the scarf wrap tighter around it as he moved at unnatural speeds.  “Let’s list your crimes real quick.”

He grabbed the scarf with two hands.

“You broke into our school.”

He dug his heels into the ground.

“Attacked the student’s and teachers.”  

Izuku shifted his weight and tightened the capture weapon around the monster as much as possible.

“And then decided that I’d let you kill All Might?!  That’s Strike Three!”

Izuku began to spin, magenta lightning wrapped around his limbs and Izuku prayed the capture scarf wouldn’t break on him.

“YOU’RE OUT!”   He shouted as he spun faster and faster, the Numo’s feet left the ground and Shigaraki and the mist villain were forced back as the wind picked up around them.  “Clout!”

As the world became a blur of motion Izuku finally felt enough speed build up.  He released the scarf like a hammer toss and watched the villain go flying up into the air.  The greenettes' knees hit the floor with the force.

Shock absorption did little when Izuku wasn’t actually touching him.  The force of momentum couldn’t be dispersed into the villain's body so it sailed higher and higher.  With a shattering of glass it sailed out of the USJ and off into the sky.

Izuku wondered if his ball throw record might be improved with this technique.

Izuku felt the windforce of his throw dissipated and came to his feet.  “Straight out of the park.”

He turned, both villains were staring at the spot where the villain had been thrown out.

“Now.”  Izuku said, his eyes still burning with residual power.  “What’s your backup plan I wonder?”

“Nomu-  Nomu-”  Shigaraki was scratching the skin around his neck frantically as he stared at where the monster had vanished.  “NO NO NO!  You cheated!”

Izuku looked on with barely concealed disdain, “Oh, so you're going to throw a temper tantrum?  Not very becoming, little wannabe villain.”

Truth be told, Izuku was fairly certain he wasn’t going to be able to hold his transformation long enough to do much in this fight.  If he couldn’t convince them to surrender or run away, he should just grab Mr. Aizawa and run.

But his saving grace blew down the door before Izuku could decide anything else.  His eyes flicked briefly to the top of the stairs where dust had been kicked up.  He only let himself take in the familiar silhouette of his mentor before his green gaze returned to the villains.

“Run.”  Izuku said in a growl.  “Run Away.  And tell whoever's idea this was?  It’s a pathetic display.”

Chapter Text

“IT SEEMS YOU’VE ONCE AGAIN BEATEN ME TO THE PUNCH MIDORIYA!”  All Might said as he bound forward to join the greenette.  “AN IMPRESSIVE SHOWING!”

Izuku turned a very bright shade of red at the compliment.  One of these days he would be complimented and not fall to pieces about it.

“Shigaraki Tomura-”  The mist villain started.

“L- let’s just go.”  Shigaraki snapped.

He didn’t say anything else and both vanished, leaving behind a mass of villains staring at their point of departure.

“You can’t just leave us?!”  One screamed, but was cut off as he had been hit in the throat.

“I BELIEVE I CAN HANDLE THE REST OF THE CLEAN UP!”  All Might said, leaving a trail of unconsciousness or injury in his wake.  “I SUGGEST YOU TAKE AIZAWA AND JOIN YOUR FRIENDS AT THE EXIT.”

Izuku nodded, pulling his teacher up and onto his back.  The man's feet were still dragging on the floor but Izuku figured he wouldn’t mind too much.

“Sorry about losing your scarf.”  izuku said, though he wasn’t entirely sure Mr. Aizawa was even conscious at the moment, and even if he was he wasn’t likely coherent.  Still Izuku talked when he was stressed and BOY he was stressed.

Once they reached the wall izuku laid the pro down and ducked behind it just in time for the transformation to fall.

“Izuku!”  Said a chipper voice and a red kwami joined them.

“Tikki.”  He said bringing her and Roaar close, he spoke quietly.  “Thank you both.  If you weren’t here- I think today may have gone very differently…”

They vanished into Izuku’s pocket and he reemerged to pick up his teacher and continue up towards the exit.

Izuku continued to ramble all the way up the stairs.

“If your indicator for your quirk is your hair I wonder why you don’t keep it short, or have it tied down…”  Izuku said, more to himself than anything else.  “I wonder if there is a way to adapt your goggles to keep your eyes from drying out?  Do they have slats because any actual material would prevent your quirk from functioning?”

“IZUKU!”  someone shouted and the greenette looked up to see Uraraka and Shoji running towards him.

“Here-”  He passed their teacher off, who was still breathing but had gone limp.  “He’s alive but he’s hurt pretty bad.”

He sighed and wiped his brow, ready for a shower and nap after his mentor and the rest of the teachers finished cleaning up the mess left behind by the villains.

There were arms around Izuku’s neck and his brain stalled out as he realized Uraraka was hugging him.

“Hmm?”  he said, awkwardly holding his hands out.

“You were amazing!”  She said eagerly, hugging him tighter.  “You took that guy out like it was nothing.  You sent those two villains running for the hills!”

Izuku hugged her back, letting his hands sit on her shoulder blades for fear of crossing a boundary.  But the hug did prevent her from seeing his expression, which was most definitely unflattering.

When she finally released him Izuku had gotten his emotions mostly under control and gave her a shaky smile.

The other teachers arrived right as they reached the top of the stairs and both Aizawa and thirteen were being taken to Recovery Girl’s office for care until they could be transferred to a hospital.

“What happened there?”  Present Mic pointed to the large hole in the ceiling.

“Midoriya launched the villain they wanted to kill All Might out like a rocket!”  Ashido explained.  “Then he scarred the leaders off!”

The teachers all stared at the very tired greenette.

“You really are his sidekick huh…?”  Midnight mumbled and Izuku froze up.

His classmates' eyes were fixed on him and Izuku saw them putting the pieces together.

“Damn…”  he mumbled, getting ready to explain a lot.

He was so tired.

+x+

Toshinori found Izuku in the locker room well after all of his classmates had left school already.  He was staring at the locker across from him and tears were silently falling down his face.

He had apparently sprained his wrist without noticing it at some point.  They had given him a brace and ice pack but otherwise he had been deemed healthy.

Roar was curled around Izuku’s throat, purring, while Tikki sat on his leg.

“You did good Izuku.”  He settled a hand on the boy’s shoulder.  “You won.”

The greenette sniffled.  “But what if I hadn’t?”

“Then I would have protected you.”  Toshinori told him.

“No-”  Izuku shook his head.  “That’s the problem!  What would have happened if you had to fight them?  What if you lost?  I lucked out because I thought outside the box, what if you didn’t think of the same thing?”

The teen tugged at his veridian locks as his breath quickened.  “What would have happened if you had to protect us?  I know you, I know what you’d do, you'd hurt yourself even more, you wouldn’t back down.  You’d go in and what if you died?  I don’t want you to die!”

Tears were soaking the boy’s collar and shirt as they fell in large drops.  His hands were clenching his hair so hard his knuckles were going white.

Toshinori very carefully took Izuku’s hands out of his hair.  Small clumps of green fell to the floor but the teen didn’t appear to notice.  Once Izuku wasn’t accidentally hurting himself anymore Toshinori hugged him carefully, letting Izuku push his face into the horrendous yellow suit he wore today.

“You shouldn’t have had to fight today.  That was our failing.  But I’m not gonna fail you on this Izuku.”  He said, Roaar rubbed against his cheek as he rested his chin on Izuku’s head.  “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.  I promise.”

Izuku sobbed.  “please don’t die…”

“I won’t,” Toshinori said, heart breaking for this kid who had way too much on his shoulders.  “Not for a long time.”

+x+

Shouta woke up in the ambulance hut was very quickly went back to sleep, this time medically induced.  When he woke up for real he was in the hospital.  Hizashi and Nemerui were sitting nearby playing uno.

“What. The Fuck.”  Were the first words he managed to form.  Before immediately closing his eyes again because FUCK that hurt.

“Woah-”  Hizashi apparently dropped his card, and based on the sound of them hitting the table he had been losing.  “Yeah best you not move- or open your eyes for a bit.”

“My head feels like I’m in a hydraulic press.”  He complained, at the same moment he also became aware that he was apparently wrapped ner head to toe in bandages.

Right, the villains- the students!

“What happened?”  Shouta asked, opening his eyes again only to slam them shut again at the reminder that his body hated him currently.  “Are the students okay?”

“Yes everyone is fine!”  Nemuri said quickly.  “You and thirteen were the only ones with any serious injuries.  Everyone else got a clean bill of health, Midoriya sprained his wrist but that was the worst of it.”

“Speaking of he brought you something.”  Hizashi said and Shouta heard something scraping on the table.  “You’ve been out of it for half the day and he came by with Toshinori to give you this.”

There were two things pressed into his hand.  The first he recognized instantly as a bottle, and he could easily guess the contents.

“Did the kid buy me eye drops?”  he asked, already annoyed at the snark.  The other he recognized by smell and shape as a tin of coffee.

“He also left a note if you want us to read it?”  Nemuri asked, a smile that sounded more cocky than kind audible in her voice.

He sighed.  “What?”

“He said, ‘Thanks for protecting us,”  She read off.  “And sorry about your scarf.’”

Souta fought the urge to look at her.  “What happened to my scarf?”

Chapter Text

Izuku sat on the edge of his bed looking at the red kwami in front of him who looked ashamed.

“So- the Principle saw you.” Izuku sighed before rubbing his face. “And what did you do then?”

“I yelled that the USJ was under attack and flew away…” She admitted. “I know I should have tired to play if off or something but-”

Izuku shook his head, “It wouldn’t have worked anyways- probably. Oh-kay. I guess we’ll be explaining tomorrow. I’ll text Toshinori, he said the Principal already knows about One for All so what’s another secret?”

He grabbed his phone and quickly typed out the message he needed. Once that was sent off he moved to his bookshelf.

He took down a dark wood box that looked almost entirely plain. The only exception was the spot where a manufacturer may be listed, instead stamped with the seal of the order of miraculous.

He pushed the two side panel’s and knocked on the lid, a small hatch opened on the top. A voice spoke from the box that sounded not unlike Izuku’s. “What do you seek?”

“To fly on the wings of creations light, fortune willing.” he told the box.

To open the miracle box, you had to answer with a phrase keyed to each individual miraculous. This time a slot with red and black lining opened at the very top of the box and Izuku took off Tikki’s earrings and placed them inside.

Then he knocked again and was asked once more. “What do you seek?”

“Companionship.” Izuku told the box and with a blur of multi-colored lights all of the kwami joined him in the room.

There was general excitement as he greeted them.

Most of the time Izuku let the kwami’s have run of the house when he was gone, but today they had all elected to go into the box. Izuku could only assume they had their own little home inside.

“Look- someone else found out about you guys today. I think he can be trusted?” Izuku assumed at least, “And it’ll be- four people who know. I guess that's not such a big number in the grand scheme of things. Tomorrow we're going to have to explain things.”

“I will join you young guardian.” Wayzz told him. As the sort of ambassador kwami of the box Izuku wasn’t surprised by this.

“But, it’s my turn tomorrow right?” Nooroo asked hopefully.

“Yep,” Izuku looked at his bracelet. “It’ll be fine. Wayzz you’ll have to stay here until it's time to talk and then I gotta send you home. Will that be alright?”

It would be risky for Izuku to wear three miraculous at once for any large amount of time. Thankfully being guardian meant he could access all of the miraculous if he was given the chance to transform. He could keep Wayzz at home until it was time.

Nooroo flapped his wings happily and touched a hand to the box.

The only other way to open the compartments of the box was if the kwami themselves decided to open it. So Izuku took Nooroo’s brooch out and it turned into an octagonal pin which he attached to his jacket.

“Right, what does everyone want for dinner?” He asked and was met with a cacophony of answers.

+x+

Toshinori offered to go with Izuku to explain himself, which was greatly appreciated. And Extremely needed.

Despite his earlier relaxed demeanor for the kwami’s sake he never thought it would get easier explaining how he became the guardian and all that entailed. When he started choosing heroes, a day Izuku hoped wasn’t too far off, he would only have to explain what miraculous they would be given.

He already had a plan in place to ensure no one connected him to a miraculous, and how to hand them out safely without risk of being recognized.

Nooroo’s brooch was hidden underneath Izuku’s uniform collar, so the chances of anyone seeing it, even if they didn’t know what it was- would be slim.

The bracelet wasn’t too weird because anyone who knew him, knew it never came off. So his old classmates and Bakugou had always assumed it was something personal.

This made it a target in a different sense.

Bakugou once threatened to take it, or possibly destroy it. Which he had only gotten out of by saying it was his mother’s family heirloom. Bakugou apparently had enough respect, or possibly fear, in regards to his mother to not make good with any threats.

Izuku kept flattening his collar as if to protect the somewhat more flashy piece of jewelry.

“You know if you keep fiddling with it like that, it’ll just make it more obvious.” Toshinori reminded him.

“R-right.” Izuku said, forcing his hand to fiddle with his bag’s strap instead.

They entered UA way earlier than any student would normally be permitted. But Izuku supposed that was probably for the best.

The rest of the walk was silent.

“You weren’t this scared the last time you told someone about the miraculous.” Toshinori said, raising an eyebrow. “What’s got you so spooked this time?”

“Because last time I wasn’t talking to a pro hero.” Izuku snapped, his nerves were fraying. “And it was a decision I made before they knew about the miraculous, ergo they weren’t expecting answers.”

“I think you need note cards.” He told the boy, which actually got a laugh out of the boy.

“That might help actually.” The greenette reached for Nooroo’s broach again but stopped short and put his hand back down.

He could probably write a little speech for when he gives out the miraculous. Decide early on what he’s willing to answer and what he’s not. Go over it with the kwami so they know what they can tell their holders.

That, at least, he had some say in.

They were apparently meeting in the teachers lounge for whatever reason. A room which Izuku had seen from the door once but had never actually entered.

The principal was already inside when the door opened.

“Hello.” Izuku said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

“Ah, good morning.” The rat-bear- dog- whatever beckoned the two inside.

Izuku sat down and put his bag carefully on the seat next to him. Nooroo and Roaar were waiting inside for the all clear.

Izuku twisted his hand to hear the clattering chain of his miraculous. It was a familiar and reassuring sound.

“So- yesterday.” He started, not looking up. “You saw someone who I really wish you hadn’t-”

Maybe not the best way to phrase it, but whatever.

“Yes, whatever it was seemed rather panicked that I had.” The Principal told him cheerfully.

“Yeah… She was- pretty upset with herself about that.” Izuku remembered her distress when they finally had a moment to talk after the clusterfuck that was the USJ. “So- what's your opinion on magic?”

Despite the fact people were born with supernatural abilities for the past several generations, somehow magic was a line most still weren’t willing to cross. Even Izuku hadn’t fully believed it, though shockingly enough Toshinori had without question.

The person who would be deciding if Izuku was insane, answered very diplomatically. “I have no opinion on the matter.”

“Well there's that then.” Toshinori nudged Izuku.

“Right, come one out you two.” Izuku looked at his bag as Roaar and Nooroo emerged, the latter slightly more cautious than the first.

“Are you going to get Wayzz now?” The lilac kwami asked him.

“In a second,” Izuku confirmed as Roaar settled on his shoulder with a pur.

Nooroo chose to sit on top of the bag, letting the ends of his wings trail off slightly.

“Oh, so there are more of them?” The principal asked, looking at the kwami with the same expression he looked at anyone and everything.

“Yes,” Izuku said, nodding. “These are kwami, and there are 19 of them in my care right now. Kwami are magical entities, concepts given form.”

“We were bound to this realm ages ago with our miraculous.” Roaar helpfully added. “We wanted a closer look at how the world we acted in worked. And aid humanity in the troubles they always seem to make for themselves.”

At that the principal laughed.

“Roaar here is the kwami of Elation. And she’s my full time partner.” Izuku explained, holding up his wrist. "Her miraculous, a piece of jewelry that binds the kwami to this reality, allows me to take on a portion of her concept as a power. As well as enhanced strength, speed, senses, basically everything. If you could do it before you got a miraculous, you can do it better after. She also provides a physical change to protect me and keep my identity anonymous if need be.”

“I see.”

Izuku stood up and showed off his wrist. “I can activate it and deactivate the transformation with certain key phrases. Roaar, Stripes On.”

He watched as his silver and green bracelet turned to the panjas bracelet of Roaar’s base miraculous. Nooroo’s miraculous was now hidden under his hood he noticed.

He reached for his bolas and flicked the top off of one of the weighted balls on the end.

“I also get a weapon, and since the kwami are in my care, I can also pull their miraculous directly from where I store them while I’m transformed.” Izuku reached into the glowing white portal he had gotten familiar with.

He retrieved Wayzz’s miraculous and slid it on, earning him a look from Toshinori of disapproval. No doubt he was worrying about the effect of 3 miraculous on the teen. The green kwami looked around, clearly happy to have been called upon at last.

“Stripes off.” The greenette said, feeling the magic wash over him and Roaar once again appeared on his shoulder. “This is Wayzz, he’s the kwami of Protection and he’s sort of the one in charge of the kwami and miraculous’ connection with other people.”

“Is that tea?” Wayzz asked, eyeing the Principles mug.

“It is!” He answered excitedly, “Would you like some?”

Wayzz had- a thing about tea. Izuku was starting to wonder if this had been a bad idea.

The turtle kwami gratefully took sips from the cup that was approximately half the size of his body. He began to explain what the miraculous were and the long history of them making heroes.

Izuku let Wayzz do most of the talking, trusting him not to bring up anything that he wouldn’t be down with.

“So your plan is to find people to give the miraculous?” The principal finally said after Wayzz had finished.

“I mean- if I find people who I’d trust with them, yeah. But even then- the miraculous aren’t just about the powers. I want to find people who will look after the kwami as well as they should. And also people who can keep the secret? I don’t want their existence to be public knowledge since it would be putting a massive target on the wielders backs.”

It was for a very similar reason that the general public weren’t supposed to know about One for All. None of them said this but it was on their minds.

“And why not reach out to existing pro heroes?”

Izuku shook his head. “Even if I trusted most Pro’s I couldn’t realistically give them a miraculous without it getting out that something weird is happening. It would stand out like a sore thumb that something was different. And even if the public didn’t question it, anyone they worked with would. But a teenager suddenly developing a weird addition to their quirk? That’s a bit more believable.”

“Midoriya has a good eye for analysis. And I've seen his standards when it comes to who gets a miraculous.” Toshinori threw in. “He’ll choose well, whoever he picks.”

“I’ll return to the others then, young guardian?” Wayzz asked.

“Yeah- probably for the best.” Izuku nodded.

With a quick transformation Wayzz was back in the miracle box, almost like he never left.

“You better go.” Toshinori pointed out. “You have somewhere to be.”

Izuku nodded, grabbing his bag and hurrying out without saying anything, leaving the two adults to stew in the information that had been revealed.

“No wonder you took such an interest in that young boy.” Nedzu said, looking at Toshinori who was in turn looking at the door. “He reminds me of you.”

The blonde shook his head. “Nope- he’s way better than I’ll ever be.”

Chapter Text

Izuku had received a text from Iida the day before the USJ, he had gotten most of the class number to message them about anything that needed immediate attention.  Simply stating he wanted them to save his contact for the future.

Izuku was surprised the previous night to get a text from an unknown number in a groupchat with Iida.  But the illusion was quick lived since Uraraka explained that she had wanted to set this up to ask them about meeting the next day.

‘There is a really good ice cream place near school and since we don’t have class I thought we could meet up?’

Izuku had responded enthusiastically, and Iida agreed as well.

Now Izuku was stepping out of his favorite coffee house's bathroom.  He had brought a change of clothes since while he felt weird not wearing his uniform at school, he also felt weird wearing it outside of school.

His T-shirt was navy blue today with quarter length sleeves.  He couldn’t hide Nooroo miraculous without a collar so he pinned it to the inside of his shirt instead.  The sliver of silver was barely visible at the seam of his shirt.

His order was done by the time he stepped out so he picked it up and continued to the designated meeting spot.  A plaze center of an outdoor mall.

“Midoriya!”  Iida’s very recognizable wave was clear through the small crowd already at the small shop.

Izuku felt a grin break across his face as he waved eagerly back, weaving through the tables until he was in front of them.

“Hey!”  He set his bag down, careful not to jostle the kwami inside.  “Sorry if I’m late, I had a different meeting with someone and it took a bit longer than I expected.”

They waited in line and made a very hushed conversation about the events of the day before.  While details about what exactly happened at the USJ were being kept quiet, a statement had been made to the public that something did happen.

It had some people on edge that so many villains attempted an attack on one of the biggest hero schools in the world-  But at the same time, no students had gotten injured, all but two of the villains had been captured, and apparently some unnamed hero student threw the strongest villain out the window.

So the fact they got in was scary- but the actual villains?  Well not so much.

“At this rate you’ll be famous before we even get to the second year.”  Uraraka told him in a hushed tone.

“Heaven forbid,”  Izuku grumbled.  “I’ve got enough to worry about as it is.”

She gave him a shit eating grin, “like being a sidekick to the number one hero before you started school, and neglecting to mention that fact to any of us?”

“SHH!”  He made an aggressive hand motion.  “Look I wasn’t telling anyone that okay?”

Iida nodded in understanding,  “I can understand, I had no intention of mentioning my family's connections.  Though I do wonder, how did you even come across- uh your internship?”

Izuku was grateful for the attempted subtlety.  He tried to think of a way to not make it sound absurd and not mention the miraculous.

“You may not have noticed but my luck- is pretty weird.”  Izuku rubbed the back of his neck.  “Through sheer chance he saved my life- several times actually.  I always managed to find myself in the most dangerous of situations.  And who should be nearby?”

He chuckled, remembering the question of if this was a quirk effect.  Back then it had been the question that broke the camel's back.  Now it was an inside joke between them.

“Then, coincidence of coincidences, we have a lot of things in common.”  Izuku continued, they would probably assume he meant their quirks.  Not their lack thereof, not the weight that had been put on their shoulders.  But Izuku let them believe that.  “He suggested that if I was going to keep getting myself into trouble, I should probably learn to get myself out of it.”

“When was all this?”  Uraraka wondered.

Izuku looked at the sky.  “Probably a month before I turned twelve?”

He saw their reactions and blinked in confusion.

“You’ve been learning to be a hero since you were 11?”  Iida asked in a shocked voice.

The greenette grinned, “I’ve been learning to be a hero since I was 4.  I’ve been getting practice since I was 11.”

His mother has several photos of a younger Izuku being carried back inside by Toshinori after he exhausted himself.

Toshinori had turned a violent shade of red at seeing himself get added to the family photos that were scattered around the house.

Izuku ordered his ice cream and shoved the other two forward to order, insisting he’d pay.

“I’ve never gotten to spend my allowance on friends before!”  He told them cheerily.

His allowance, aka the ‘Izuku you need to do things you enjoy or you’ll drown in misery’ fund.

Uraraka poked him as they returned to their table.  “So- if you two have known eachother so long- I bet you know his real name right?”

Izuku laughed.  “Yes I do.  But that’s not exactly my business to tell, besides I’m pretty he thinks of All Might as his real name and the other as his persona.  I think most people don’t even know it?  I’ve been to his agency and Toshinori is the only one I heard call him that?”

Izuku expected their confused expression at the half truth and clarified.

“Toshinori- he’s kind of All Might's manager?  I don’t know if that's the right word.”  This was a lie Izuku had pitched to the blonde the night before.  Since his classmates now knew he was All Might’s sidekick, them seeing him with Toshinori would raise suspicion.

And technically Toshinori did manage All Might, in the sense that he was All Might.

“So, you’ve heard our tragic backstories-”  Izuku joked looking at his brunette friend(?)  “Why did you decide to go to UA?”

Uraraka suddenly looked very uncomfortable.  “You know, it sounds a little pathetic compared to you too…”

“We won’t judge.”  Iida insisted, taking a spoonful of his orange sorbet.

“Well-”  the girl looked like she was trying to find the right words.  “I kinda want to be a hero for- financial reasons…”

The last part of her sentence was said under her breath.

Izuku raised an eyebrow, “Financial reasons?  Like money?”

“It sounds really bad when you say it like that,”  Uraraka pointed out.  “Damn it…  Kinda a bad reason huh?”

Iida shook his head vehemently, “Not at all!  You want to provide for yourself, that’s why most people have a job anyway.  You just want to do well by yourself.”

Izuku smiled, “It’s not at all a bad reason, you know the danger and commitment right?  If you're willing to put in the work then that’s hardly fair for us to judge.”

Uraraka seemed to relax slightly, “Thanks, and to be honest it’s a little more complicated than that…  My parents run a construction company, but works been slow so-”

“Ah.”  Izuku and Iida said at the same time.

The taller of the two paused though.  “But, with your quirk, wouldn’t you be able to help them cut costs?  If you could get licensed and worked for them-”

“It could increase production and drop costs.”  Izuku nodded.  “And they could sell some of the heavy lifting equipment?”

Uraraka sighed deeply, “I wish, I’ve been trying to convince them to let me help in the family business since I got my quirk.  But dad thinks I should find my own passion.  But if I become a hero- then I can pay for them to retire early and live well.  I just want to use my quirk to make my parents happy.  Oh- Izuku!”

Izuku rubbed a tear from his eye, “Sorry, I’ve always been a crybaby.  That's a really sweet thing you're doing for your parents.”

She chuckled and Iida reminded them that their ice creams were melting.

They began discussing more mundane topics, tv shows or movies they had become interested in.  Their favorite foods.  What their families were like.

Izuku had never gotten the chance to connect with people his own age.  He only really had a few people he was even close to.

So of course, Izuku’s bad luck decided to strike.

As Izuku glared at the villain who decided was currently smashing up the boulevard, and promised himself he’d take the first opportunity to kick the man in the balls.

Chapter Text

It had started when their conversation was cut off by a loud bang.

There was a villain using what appeared to be small bursts of energy to tear up the buildings nearby.

Maybe their experience the day before made them over confident, or just fucking done with villains bullshit.  But the three hero students had run outside.

“We should go.”  Iida suggested, “no doubt the pros will be here soon.

Izuku grabbed the other boy's arm and pointed.  “Iida look-”

The villain had a blast cued up at the base of a building.  Others were aiming similar quirks at the roads end.  Keeping them boxed in.

“He’s going to take the building down-”  Izuku explained,  “His blasts aren’t random, that's a gas line, if that one falls- there will be a chain reaction I’m sure of it.  And were all stuck here.”

The two next to him paled.

“Can’t you do something?”  Uraraka suggested.

Izuku bit his lip.  “Technically I’m still not licensed so I’m only supposed to use my powers if All Might is with me.  I nearly got in a lot of trouble last year and he had to pull me out of it.”

“We should try and keep people calm.”  Their class rep said, clearly unhappy with the situation.

They all split off and joined different corals of stressed civilians.

“It's because those villains broke into UA isn’t it?”  Izuku heard one person say.

“The villains are getting more confident,”  Another said.

Izuku slid his hand into his pocket and shot a text to Toshinori, who hopefully would get the word out to any heroes in the area that the villain was potentially going to blow a gas line.

‘Where are you?’   Was the response he got?

“Where do you think?”  Izuku mumbled as he angrily said he was trying to get the crowd to stop panicking.

They needed a hero who knew what was happening, someone who could minimize damages and get close to the villain without risking him blowing the line.

Izuku suddenly paused, a plan forming in his head.

It could work.  There was a high probability it would work.  But he couldn’t do it alone.

The greenette moved carefully through the crowd until he reached a spot that was concealed from both the villains and everyone else.

“Hey,”  he asked Roaar and Nooroo.  “How do you feel about us getting some help here?”

Roaar lit up and Izuku had to shush her quickly.

“Nooroo, I’ll need your help too?”  He asked the butterfly kwami.

“Of course, young guardian!”  Nooroo agreed.  “You know what to do.”

Izuku nodded, sliding off Roaar’s miraculous and hiding it in his book bag.  The last thing he needed was for anyone to recognize it.

“Nooroo,Wings Rise.”   He whispered.

They had discussed him using a different miraculous to keep his identity a secret.  Nooroo’s had seemed the most logical one at the time.

Izuku knew already that he appeared very different, his hair had become a silvery white.  His mouth was covered and his eyes were a purple and white swirl.

His wing-like cloak held the miraculous brooch in place.

Compared to his tiger suit, the butterfly looked downright regal.

Using the butterflies cane to retrieve Wayzz’s bracelet again Izuku watched as the kwami formed, looking confused.

“What are we doing?”  he asked.

“We're saving the day if you're up for it.”  the teen told him, which caused a grin to break over the kwami’s face.

The Guardian flipped up his hood and began stalking the perimeter of the crisis

+x+

Ochaco was standing on the outskirts of the group she had been attempting to keep calm.  Prepared to step in if any of the villains near her were going to do something.

She may only have had 4 days of experience being a hero student, but she also knew she could hold her nerve much better than most here.

Still she wasn’t expecting a hand to clap over her mouth and drag her backwards with a sharp tug to her jacket.

She gave a muffled shriek of surprise before her eyes came in contact with a pair of purple eyes.  But not normal eyes, the whites too were an amethyst pit.  Swirls of white wrapped around his pupils.  There were butterfly wings on his mask and in the shape of his cloak, but he didn’t look delicate or fragile.

“Don’t worry Uraraka Ochaco, I’m a friend to you.”  The mystery person said.  “I’ll uncover your mouth but if you scream those villains will find us.  Do you understand?”

She nodded slowly.  As he let her go, it dawned on Ochaco that he looked young.  Granted the hair she could see was silver, and something about him seemed to carry a weight.  But he, by all metricks, looked around her age.

“Who are you?”  She asked, trying to sound confident.

“I’m The Guardian.”  He told her shortly.  “I’m going to offer you a chance to help these people without risking your position as a hero student.  Would you be willing to take this offer?”

Part of her said she should scream and kick this guy in the teeth.  But the other part of her, the bigger part of her, didn’t seem to be afraid.  The Guardian seemed familiar, though she didn’t know why.

“What would I need to do?”  She asked.

The Guardian smiled, he held up a small box.  “Ochaco Uraraka, this is the miraculous of the turtle.  It will grant you enhanced skills and total anonymity.  As well as the power of Protection.  Your kwami will explain it further.  After you defeat this villain, you will return the miraculous to me.  Do you accept?”

She carefully took the box and opened it.  Inside was a bracelet with a large hexagon in mint green.

A ball of light formed and a small plushy-like creature materialized.  “Hello, I am Wayzz.  I’ll be the one granting you the ability to aid these people.  When you transform, I will lend you my strength and power.  When you wish to use it, just say ‘Shelter’ and you can form an unbreakable field to surround someone or something of your choosing.”

She nodded, putting on the bracelet, which in a flash turned to a plaque of black resin and flakes of white glitter.  It looked like a galaxy trapped within the bracelet.

“After you use your power, you will have five minutes before you change back.  It is imperative that I and the miraculous stay a secret.  So don’t let anyone see you destransform.  To activate the transformation, say ‘Wayzz, Shell On.’  I believe that it all.

Ochaco nodded, she looked up to speak to the guardian, but found him gone.

“The Guardian must say unknown.”  Wayzz supplied her, “Now, if you like.”

“Wayzz, Shell On?”   Ochaco said cautiously.  There was a buzz and Wayzz suddenly vanished into the bracelet.  She felt something odd wash over her and suddenly, she was dressed very differently than she had been before.

Not taking too much time to dwell on that, she pulled something heavy from her back.  It was a shield in the shape of a turtle shell.  It had a bar going across the underside, no doubt for her to hold onto.  It was half her height and, despite being able to tell it’s significant weight, it wasn’t very hard for her to lift.

In fact, she felt stronger in general, sturdier.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

Chapter Text

Tenya was becoming very distressed.  The villain who appeared to be leading the others was on the phone with a negotiator.  Since everyone in the area was technically a hostage, he didn’t think the heroes would be coming in any time soon.  Not unless they had a plan.

What made things worse was that he had lost sight of both Uraraka and Midoriya.  Part of him hoped they had managed to get out, the other part worried the villains had recognized them.  They had been on TV briefly, and though Midoriya had avoided the camera by pulling his hood up over his face and running off before anyone got a good look at him, the class as a whole had been shown.

If they were recognized, would the villains try to take them out of the equation?

Tenya hoped that wasn’t the case.

If they had told him that this would have happened today- well in truth Tenya would have still come.  He couldn’t deny he’d rather be here, doing his best to help, then sitting somewhere else scared.

There was a younger boy in the group he was with.  He looked maybe 9 years old at the oldest.

“Where is your family?”  He asked the boy.

Large scared green eyes looked up at him- “My- my sister was with me, but I can’t see her…”

Tenya’s eyes scanning for anyone who looks like the kid.

“My name is Iida Tenya, I’m a hero student.”  He told the boy.  “I’ll get you out of here and back to your sister okay?”

The boy sniffled, but nodded.

“Oh, a hero student huh?”  Said a very cold voice behind him.  Tenya stiffened

One of the villains was looking at them, Tenya shoved the little boy behind him.

“Well then, I suggest you stand up, and if you even think of using a quirk?  I’ll make sure one of these bastards gets it.”  He gestured to the civilians who were all staring with wide eyes.

Tenya took a deep breath and stood up.

The villain had a knife in one hand and grabbed the boy with green eyes.  There was a knife to the shaking boy’s throat.

The teen stiffened, no chance to get the kid to safety like this.

“If you wanna keep your promise to this little brat, I suggest you walk over to the boss with me?”  They gestured to the man who was still ready to blow the building.

Tenya walked with his head high.  He would not let the villains see his fear.

“Taking hostages, you are cowards.”  Tenya said, still walking with steady and even steps.

The villain laughed.  “Bravery gets people killed, and you’ll be a nice example of that.

Despite his best efforts- that did make Tenya flinch.

He stopped when told to, feet away from the villain’s boss, who turned to him lazily.

“What’s up?”  He directed the question to the man with the knife.

Tenya didn’t turn around, instead keeping his eyes on the man in front of him.  “Apparently, Mr. Bravery here is a hero student.  I saw him on the news too, he’s a UA kid.”

“Well now,”  The villain said, smiling with a bit too many teeth.  “I didn’t think we’d have such an honorable hostage today.  Sorry kid, but you’ll be a great example for the heroes.”

Tenya felt time slow down.  He was going to die wasn’t he?

He wouldn’t get to keep his promise to that little boy.  He wouldn’t get to find out if Midoriya and Uraraka were alright.

He wouldn’t get to help his brother, or tell his parents how much he adores them ever again.

For the second time in 24 hours, he was staring death in the face.  But shockingly, this time he just felt numb.

“Sorry kid,”  The villain told him.  “It’s just how it is.”

A vibrant light was building in the man's palms, it was pointing at Tenya’s head.

Tenya closed his eyes and locked his jaw but kept his face calm.  He would not give the man the satisfaction of seeing him scared.

He heard the blast, but no pain.  No heat.  Not even a tingle.

Tenya opened his eyes.

“What a drama queen.”  Said a girl in all green.  She was holding a shield that was huge compared to the girl.

“What the-”  the villain shouted but he didn’t have much time to react before the underside of his jaw met the edge of the girl's shield.  She threw it like a massive frisbee and it ricocheted off a building smacking the other villain’s arm, causing him to drop the knife with a scream.

Tenya didn’t even have time to do more than turn his head.

“Who the hell-”  he asked, was this a hero?

“Name’s Oto-hime.”  She told him.  “Can you get these people moving?  I’ll handle the rest.”

She picked up the little boy and put him into Iida’s arms.

Then she grabbed her shield and readied herself for a fight.

“Dumb bitch-”  The villain stood, he spat blood and a tooth onto the ground.  “You’ve killed yourself, and them.”

He raised his hand to blow the gas line.

“I don’t think so-”  She shouted.  “ Shell-ter!”

A ball of green energy exploded from her shield and formed around her and the villain.  His blast dissipated on the dome’s edge.

“Let’s dance ugly.”  Oto-hime snarled.

Tenya spared one more glance at the hero(?) before taking the boy and shouting to the crowds to get them to start moving.

“Iida!”  He heard someone shout and he spotted Midoriya standing.  “Thank fuck- I thought they were about to- to-”

Neither of them wanted to finish that statement.

“We have to get everyone out.”  Tenya told his classmate and they began directing people away from the plaza center.

+x+

Meanwhile Oto-hime was still facing off against the villains.  She didn’t have an easy combat weapon so she could only use what little hand to hand combat skills she knew.

She should probably try and improve them if she was going to be in situations like this with any regularity.

“Who the hell are you anyway?”  The villain spat blood at her feet.

“The ultimate pain in your ass!”  She shouted.  “This turtle snaps bitch!”

She brought the shield down on his head and after a comical spin, he fell to the floor.

With a snap of her fingers the green bubble she had formed vanished.  The other villains, apparently not prepared for the idea of their leader being taken down, were surrounding her.

Oto-hime flipped her shield up with her toe and caught it.  “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Tenya was corralling civilians towards different response teams while the police and heroes present began to swarm into the plaza.

Tenya handed off the child he’d been tasked with to his older sister who was hugging him tightly.  All while sobbing, apologizing to the boy and thanking Tenya.

He had lost sight of Midoriya again but saw a different familiar face instead.

“All Might!”  He shouted.

“YOUNG IIDA!”  The pro looked at him in surprise, “WHERE ARE MIDORIYA AND YOUNG URARAKA?”

“I don’t know, we separated to try and keep people calm, I saw Midoriya for a second but I lost him again.”  he told the pro.

The blonde nodded, it was impossible to tell his reaction to the news when his face never wavered from smiling..

“That hero who came in to save us.  Shewas spectacular, do you know who she was?”  He asked All Might who looked confused.

“WHAT HERO?  EVERYONE WAS BARRED FROM ENTERING UNTIL WE GOT A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SITUATION?”

Now it was Tenya’s turn to be confused.

“But- then who was Oto-hime?  She just ran in and took out the villain like it was nothing.”  He questioned.  “Who else would she be?”

Seeing as there was only really one option they both turned back to the plaza, the same thought in both of their minds.

On rule, Iida did not have the highest opinion of vigilantes.  They were strictly ignoring the law and taking justice into their own hands.  Sometimes doing more harm than good and rarely being held accountable.

The want to help people was admirable, but there were ways to do it legally.

But that logic felt weaker when one just saved his life.

He saw a green blur erupt from the plaza.

Oto-hime was riding her shield like a hoverboard up into the sky.  She angled it and landed onto one of the taller buildings.

“Thanks for a great time, but I’m gone.”  She glanced at the crowd.  “See ya!”

She hopped on her shield once more and vanished.

“Oto-hime…”  Tenya said again.

All Might merely hummed.

+x+

Ochaco found herself mixing into the crowd, pulling her jacket’s sleeve over the bracelet she had been given.

Wayzz was hiding as best he could in her pocket.

“Sorry,”  She mumbled to him.  “If only I had my bag I could-”

The brunette paused as she spotted a pair of purple eyes staring at her.

Quickening her pace she moved away from the ambulances and police sirens and followed the edge of a purple cloak behind a store that was far enough away from the scene.

“You did wonderful.”  The guardian told her, a smile in his eyes even if his mouth wasn't visible.  “Thank you!  I knew I could trust you with this.”

“Thank you–”  She said back, a flush growing on her cheeks, thankfully disguised by her flush from the fight.  “For letting me help.  That was- that was really cool!”

Ochaco stumbled over her words.  She wondered if it was the adrenaline from the fight wearing off.

“I have to go now,”  The guardian told her, holding out a hand.  “I’m afraid Wayzz must come with me, he’ll need to eat.”

She hesitated, an argument on her tongue.  She wanted to say that she could take care of Wayzz herself.  Being Oto-hime had been a whirlwind of power and emotion, and she had barely gotten to know the little green creature that was Wyazz.

But The Guardian had trusted her.  Had chosen her out of anyone there.  And betraying that trust felt a tad bit sickening.

She took the bracelet off and it returned to the teal and black banded form it had been before she ever received it.

“Goodbye Wayzz.”  She told the green kwami.  “Thanks for everything, rest up and take care for me?”

“We will see each other again,”  He promised her.  “I am very happy to have met you, even though it was brief.”

She cupped her hands around the kwami’s small form and hugged him to her cheek which he put both paws on and leaned in.

She handed the bracelet to The Guardian and he nodded before placing it back in its box.  Wayzz vanished with a flash of green and now the two humans were left alone.

“If it’s alright with you, should the need arise I’d love to call on- what was it you called yourself?”  He asked, tucking the miraculous box into his cloak.

“Oto-hime.”  She told him proudly.

The smile in his eyes brightened.  “A beautiful name fit for a princess.”

And to her absolute shock The Guardian bowed and took her hand.  Pressing a kiss onto it through the mask.

“Until we meet again.  Princess.”  He said and with a leap, his wings flared and the butterfly was gone.

Ochaco started speechless as he vanished.  Her face felt even more hot all of a sudden.

+x+

When Ochaco returned to the slowly emptying crowd she finally caught a glimpse of Iida.  He was standing with All Might and a police officer giving a statement.

She ran over and a wave of relief washed over the two of them.

“I AM HAPPY TO SEE YOU SAFE YOUNG URARAKA BUT HAVE YOU SEEN-”  All Might was cut off by a shout.

Izuku was running to them with a wide grin on his face and all of their school bags.

“Sorry if I scared you, I went to get our bags.”  He explained handing them to his classmates.  “I’m so glad you're both okay.”

The police officer told them he had everything he needed form Iida and left them alone.

“I’ll be honest,”  Izuku's aid rubbing the back of his neck.  “I would be happy with no surprises for a few days now…”

All Might was giving Izuku an unreadable expression, but IIda sighed.

“I was hoping we’d find today relaxing but instead we were yet another conflict.”  He shook his head.  “I’m sorry your hang out plan got ruined Uraraka.”

She shook her head.  “Are you crazy?  I’m just happy you're not dead!”

She had been almost frozen in fear when she’d seen him be pulled from the crowd and lead to his execution.  Ochaco was just happy she’d gotten there in time.

“I think I’m a little fun-ed out now guys.”  Izuku admitted.  “I think I’m gonna go home.”

“Agreed.”  Ochaco said.  She was exhausted after all of that.  “I’ll see you both at school tomorrow.”

They said their goodbyes and left All Might to deal with the mess the villains had made.

Ochaco hummed to herself as she began walking.  Today has been scary, exhausting, and downright traumatizing.  But she couldn’t feel all that upset that it had happened.

If she hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened?  And she never would have met Wayzz, or The Guardian.

She told herself the butterflies in her stomach was the adrenaline wearing off, and not anything else.

Chapter Text

After they got to Toshinori’s apartment, Izuku had spent an hour justifying to the blonde why bringing in a miraculous holder was indeed necessary, and no he didn’t do it arbitrarily just so his crush could get to use a miraculous.

“I suppose I should at least be happy you picked someone else instead of potentially hurting yourself.  And your friends are at least a little better equipped to deal with villains.”  The blonde admitted.  “But you could have waited for the heroes.”

“I knew things would escalate, and the turtle's power isn’t destructive.”  Izuku explained again.  “What if I hadn’t brought her in?  Sure, I could have fought but that would reveal the miraculous to my friends and get me in trouble with the police.  Not to mention putting my identity out to the public, which would suck.”

Izuku scrubbed a hand over his face.

“You know I don’t make these choices lightly.”  Izuku reminded him.  “But what would have happened?  What if they did manage to get to Iida?  I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do anything to stop it.”

Toshinori sighed ruffling the boy's hair.  “I know, you did good.  But try not to make a habit of it?”

Izuku let a tired smile stretch across his face.

“I’m gonna take a nap.”  Izuku said with a yawn.

Nooroo and Wayzz were enjoying a bowl of mixed fruit Izuku had cut up for them while Roaar was already curled up in Izuku’s room the guest room.

Toshinori smiled at his charge’s back.

“Sleep well my boy.  You’ve earned it.”

+x+

Izuku hadn’t made it home that night, instead sleeping through the rest of the day and night in his room at Toshinori’s apartment.  The pro had called his mother to let her know and only woke Izuku up in time to eat dinner before letting the kid return to bed.

The toll of wearing three miraculous was a heavy one, even if not activated.  Even the hour he’d been at UA with all three would have left him tired, so pushing through that to transform with Nooroo twice wouldn’t help.

Izuku had been using the miraculous so long that the power locks on most of them had waned.  They used his energy alongside the kwami’s in most cases.

It did mean the kwami wouldn’t need to recharge as often but it also meant Izuku would need his own recharge instead.

“Who's supposed to be with me today?”  he asked Roaar who was sitting on his shoulder as he brushed his teeth.

The tiger yawned, showing off her sharp teeth.  “I believe it is Longg’s turn.”

Izuku nodded, rinsing his toothbrush and calling for a transformation.  Nooroo had gone dormant already so he simply switched the brooch for his locket.  Wyazz had already been sent home after he was done eating.

“I heard that you chose a new holder, hatchling.”  The serpentine dragon told him.  “He seemed very pleased with her.  We knew you would choose the best holders for us!”

Izuku let the red kwami settle into his hair, “your mane is a mess hatchling,” as he started the coffee pot.

Toshinori always woke up half an hour after Izuku did, at least if he slept at all.  The coffee pot was used more by Izuku than the blonde anyways.

Through many painstaking hours of work, Izuku had managed to regrow the blonde’s stomach.  The fix was held together by magical tape and string.  But once they were sure his body wasn’t going to reject the organ, Toshinori would actually be able to eat normal food again.

The greenette grabbed an iron and began to get the wrinkles out of his uniform that had been shoved into his bag for all of yesterday.

Longg was telling Izuku a story about when he was rescued from a malicious holder by a girl named Tokoyo.

Roaar was, rather predictably, asleep again.

Izuku finished ironing his uniform and set it aside to let the fabric cool down as he took his first mug of coffee and began to scroll through the news sights on his phone.

Oto-hime had been seen and caught on a few cameras.  She has already been deemed an unlawful vigilante and Izuku was very happy to see no one had the slightest idea on who she might be.

He didn’t want to bring that kind of stress down on his friend's head.

A small group online was very vocal about their support of the girl, suggesting she be picked up by a hero agency instead of arrested should her identity be discovered.  Since she had caused no harm to civilians or to any property the idea was garnering some traction.

Izuku hoped that if anyone did figure out it was Uraraka that she’d be offered a job instead of demonized, that was for sure.

He looked at the picture of Oto-hime.  Despite her masked face and redder hair he could still plainly tell she was Uraraka.  One of the perks of being able to see through the miraculous’ identity magic.

She looked good.

Izuku cut that train of thought off and finished his mug in two sips, letting the still very hot liquid wake him up.

Toshinori came out of his room and looked around until he saw Iuzku who gave him a little wave from where he was refilling his cup at the coffee pot.

“Good morning.”  Izuku said, slightly more awake out of the two of them.  “People seem to like Oto-hime.”

Toshinori snorted.  “I still think you're playing a dangerous game.  But at the very least people like your friend.  But what is your plan if someone finds her out?”

The greenette shrugged, it was much easier to feel calm about it when the danger was once again farther away.  But whatever happened, he’d take the fall before anyone else.

+x+

“So who do you think will be teaching class today?”  Mina asked the open class as everyone kept trickling in.

Izuku had managed to convince Iida to switch seats with him, an agreement that was made after Bakugou’s third outburst and Izuku’s second mouthing off.

With the distance between the two there was a drop of breathing room for the class.

As if he had been listening in on their conversation, the door opened and a still bandaged Mr. Aizawa was standing there.

“Sir.”  Izuku said in a slow and slightly frightening voice.  “Pardon my french, but What The Fuck Are You Doing HERE!?!?”

“Midoriya!”  Iida shouted.

“GO TO BED!”  Izuku still shouted at their teacher.  “Look I already know what the announcements are, I can-”

“Deal.”  Mr. Aizawa turned on his heel and walked right back out of the classroom, no doubt to the teachers lounge.

Once the door was shut Izuku sighed in relief.  “I swear- is every teacher at this school allergic to taking appropriate amounts of rest after injury.”

The greenette popped up from his desk.

“Class was supposed to be short anyway, so I’ll give you the rundown.”  He sat on Mr. Aizawa’s desk.  “UA has decided to continue with the sports festival this year.”

-

“I mean this in the kindest way possible but are you stupid?”

-

“Just with a couple extra safety precautions brought on by a concerned parent.”  He grinned at the class.

-

“You couldn’t keep them safe on your own Damn campus!  Now you wanna broadcast everything about them and ship them out across the country!”

-

Izuku’s ears were still ringing, “A very very concerned parent.”

-

“My son fought real ass supervillains!  An entire class of students survived on luck and the fact no one knew anything about them and you're going to steal the one advantage they had?”

-

“So we are changing a few things for the safety of students.”  He explained, “Security is being tightened, and the broadcast will no longer be saying our names on the broadcast.  We’ll have ID numbers and the hero agencies will get more information after the fact, and only about the students going to that specific agency.  The only ones who will have their names announced are the top four.  First, second, and the two people who take fourth.”  

“Wow,”  Kaminari said slowly.  “Who kicked up such a fuss they changed the sports festival?”

“A very passionate parent.”  Izuku concluded.

Midoriya Inko, and her very passionate parenting.  And her cousin who was a very good lawyer.

Chapter Text

Izuku had told the kwami that none of them could join him for the actual event of the sports festival, seeing that wearing any additional miraculous risked them getting lost or damaged.

“I’ll set up the live stream for you before I leave.”  Izuku promised, unswayed by the insistent whining of the magical beings.  A skill that took longer to develop than Izuku would admit outloud.  “But Roaar is the only one who will get to go with me.  And she won’t even get to enjoy most of it since I’ll be transformed okay?”

He had also been fighting to fill out paperwork to have his bolas be permitted during the different rounds.

When asked why, Izuku had to come up with an explanation involving his power taking a lot of energy and using so much on one day being dangerous.  It had been enough to convince Powerloader so Izuku passed off his weapon for approval and five minutes later left with a permission form.

After eating lunch with Toshinori and finishing the afternoon classes, he was met with a veritable wave of people right outside the classroom door.

“Um…”  Izuku poked his head out.  Sure enough the crowd stretched a fair ways down the hall in both directions.  “Can we help you?”

Iida joined him at the door and Izuku stood up and let their class rep take the lead, instead focusing on Mineta who appeared to be panicking already.

“Do any of you have business with our class?”  Iida asked the group. 

Bakugou was the one who answered them.  “They’re here to see the class that survived the villains.  And the scope of the competition for the sports festival.  Now move extras.”  The blonde went to push past the crowd.

He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“You need to stop calling people that.”  Izuku said in a low tone.

Red eyes met veridian and the silence that stretched between the two spoke volumes.

“Whatever.”  Bakugou rolled his eyes.

The rest of class 1-A sighed in relief.  They had only seen the two fight a handful of times, but it usually ended with small amounts of property damage and them hiding under the desk.

Izuku refocused on the kids surrounding the door.  “As flattering as it is that you all came to see us, it’s really kind of awkward to be gawked at.  So, we’ll all see each other at the sports festival, and I wish you all luck but please clear the hall?”

Some of them did leave, making enough of an opening for the students to leave if they wanted.  One of the people who stayed was a boy with gravity defying purple hair.

Izuku smiled at him as they made eye contact.

“Is everyone in the hero course an ass or is it just that kid?”  The boy asked.

Izuku’s grin widened, “Just him.”

“Hmm.”  He looked around the class  “You know, I had wanted to be in the hero course.  But not unlike most of these guys- I didn’t get that chance.”

The greenette’s face was one of polite neutrality.  “So you're hoping to impress the teachers and get transferred in.  Of course- that means someone would have to be transferred out…”

There was a quiet gasp amongst his classmates.

Izuku stuck out his hand.  “Midoriya.”

The boy shook it, “Shinsou.  I hope all of you are planning to bring your best to the table- because if not, you’ll be out.  Consider this a declaration of war.”

For the first time since Baugou left, Izuku’s eyes narrowed.  Before a very bark of laughter left his mouth.

He hunched over, patting the very surprised Shinsou on the shoulder.  “Did you practice that or was it off the cuff?”  He sputtered out through laughs

The greenette finally stood and wiped away a tear.  “I don’t know about the rest of the class, but I’m happy to accept your challenge.  Maybe we’ll see you next semester.”

Shinsou was apparently not expecting that reaction after the teens cold response to Bakugou.

“Hey!”  Izuku’s eyes moved to a boy pushing his way to the front of the crowd.  “I’m from class 1-B!  I hear you fought some villains!”

“That we did!”  Izuku agreed.  “And lived to tell the tale.”

Iida joined Izuku at the door, “It’s nice to meet someone from our sister class.  I am Iida Tenya, class 1-A’s representative.”

“We hope you don’t take Bakugou’s poor behavior as a reflection on our whole class.”  Yaoyorozu added.  “It is mostly good luck and our teachers' efforts that let us get this far.  So we need to work much harder to not be caught off guard again.”

Izuku nodded, “Which means everyone, in our class, 1-B and every other student here needs to be giving it their all.”

When Izuku met Shinsou’s eyes the boy flinched slightly.

His bright green eyes were currently flashing gold and magenta, little arcs of lightning danced across his slit pupils.

Izuku gave the crowd one last smile before picking up his bag and striding out the door, head high.

Chapter Text

“Nope.”  Izuku shook his head, and his pockets out as Fluff and Stommp bemoaned the action.

He then reached into his bag and extracted Tikki by the foot.

“But Izuku!  We may never get to see something like this again!”  Tikki whined.

It was moments like these that made Plagg and Barkk his favorite’s.  Barkk liked following him to school as much as any other kwami, but she often preferred the TV over large crowds, seeing as they overwhelmed her senses.

And Plagg would probably skip going to school with him if he didn’t find it so amusing to prank Bakugou.

Roaar was purring on her holder's head, excited that she was the exception, even if she would be in her miraculous the whole time.

“Right.”  Izuku put his foot down.  “If you don’t all swear that you won't sneak off with me to school, I will lock the box and you won’t get to watch the sports festival at all!”

They all began to sulk, but the greenette would not bend on this.

With much reluctance the group stopped trying to hide with Izuku or his things and gathered on the bed to show how well behaved they were.

“Plagg, Barkk, I owe you both extra desserts for being so chill about this.”  He told the two as he began pulling up UA’s livestream.  It announced the event would start in a matter of hours.

“Camembert?”  Plagg perked up.

“Ice Cream?”  Barkk asked at the same time.

“Yeah, I’ll try and pick some up after school.”  He pet both on the head, confirmed all the other kwami were still accounted for, and left his room.  “Just reload the page in a few hours and it should pull up the stream.  I’ll see you guys tonight.”

His mother was waiting for him in the kitchen.

“Izuku.”  She kissed him on the cheek.  “You’ll do wonderful, just try not to get too banged up okay?  I don’t think my heart could take it.”

Izuku hugged her tightly.  “I’ll be fine mom.  I promise I’ll be careful.”  He sat down to tie his shoes.

“I’m planning to record the whole festival in HD so you can watch it back later.”  His mom promised as she handed him his school bag.

With his shoes on and bag in hand Izuku stood, kissed his mom on the cheek and left for UA.  “I’ll see you later mom.  Love you.”

+x+

Izuku managed to wade through the crowd in front of the school that was already forming.  This was one of the biggest events of the year.

He spotted a stall selling All Might and Endeavor masks and choked on a laugh.  He was so buying one of those and leaving it in Toshinori’s car.

He did stop at a vendor to buy himself an energy drink, as well as a ginger drink for Uraraka and an orange soda for Iida.

He heard someone asking the price of drinks behind him and turned.

“Oh hey,”  Izuku grinned.  “I remember you guys!”

Mount Lady, Death Arms, and Kamui Woods were standing behind him at the stall.

Izuku flicked out his notebook and opened it to a page.  “Can I get an autograph?”

He received several nods and stifled a squeal as they signed the page.

“You said we’ve met before?”  Kamui Woods asked him, as the hero handed back the notebook.  ‘May I ask when?”

“Oh, the whole sludge villain thing.”  Izuku tucked the book away.  “Though I guess I ran off before we got introduced, anyway enjoy the festival.”

He turned and ran off, sniggering as they shouted in realization of who he was.

Okay, secrets aside, that would never stop being funny.

Once safely in the student section of the arena Izuku put away his things and got changed.

Their class had a room for them to rest in, away from the public eye, on top of their section of the stands for later.

“Iida, heads up.”  Izuku tossed him the drink and the other caught it without noticing what was tossed to him.  “Your reflexes are on fire today!”

“I am rather excited.”  Iida agreed, finally noticing what he had and opening the drink with a word of thanks to his classmate.

Izuku took a sip of his own drink as he handed Uraraka her own.

He let the idle chatter of his classmates wash over him as he planned for the first event.

He was holding off on transforming until right before the event to keep Roaar’s energy up.  After that he’d have to finish as quickly as possible without using Clout if he wanted her to remain secret.

“Midoriya.”

Izuku hummed, looking around for the speaker.  “Oh, Todoroki.  What’s up?”

This was maybe the first time the other boy had actively approached him to speak.

“Your All Mights sidekick, even though you're our age.”  The boy started  “I just wanted you to know.  I plan to beat you.”

And with that he turned and walked away.

Izuku’s mouth was wide open.  The first full sentence between them and it was a threat?

Maybe he had misread Todoroki, because that was absolutely not what he had expected and he wasn’t expecting much of anything!

“Uh- okay?”  Izuku said, not sure if he wanted to know the motivations behind it.  “Good luck to you too I guess?”

Izuku stood and went to wait by the door, mind whirling with wondering what any of that was about.

He distinctly heard people questioning the boy but didn’t listen for an explanation.  He doubted they’d get one.

Chapter Text

With only minutes to spare Izuku transformed and put his uniform over his suit.  His arm guards had also been approved so he wasn’t worried about that.

WIth his bolas wrapped firmly around his waist, Izuku was ready for the first part of the sports festival.

+x+

“Ah welcome All Might, we were wondering when you’d show up.”  Thirteen greeted the blonde who looked sheepish.

“Traffic was bad.”  He mumbled as a short green haired woman walked past him.

“It’s my fault, I had to pick something up.”  Inko Midoriya said plainly.  While she was smiling, no one in the room had forgotten the absolute reaming she’d given Toshinori over the phone about the sports festival.  Coincidentally while they were in the middle of a meeting about the event.

He had only managed to placate her with promises that there would be changes and after a very panicked ask of permission, said she could see the changes herself at the event.

This was the first and only time a civilian had been allowed to sit in the teachers box, but seeing as she might have strangled Toshinori otherwise, it was the lesser of two evils.

She sat primly in her seat and fished a large tupperware box out of her bag.

“I brought snacks.”  Inko said happily revealing a large quantity of sweets.

“Now we know where Midoriya gets it from.”  Aizawa whispered to his co host, as both grabbed a handful of the snack and left to commentate.

+x+

Midnight proudly started off the sports festival, before calling Young Todoroki to the stage.

While normally the first place in the regular entrance exam got to make a speech, they had run into a problem that year.

Being that Midoriya and Bakugou got matching scores on the exam.  For fear of the two killing each other, they had elected for the first in recommendations to speak instead…

“I’m a bit sad Izuku didn’t get to do a little speech.”  Inko mumbled.  “He made all these cute little ones when he was younger.”

“Yeah, but he probably would have worried himself into a hole about it.”  Toshinori pointed out.

The woman sighed.  “I guess you’re right.”

+x+

Todoroki’s speech was very short and to the point.  Apparently he had used most of his dramatic flare in Izuku.

“This is our first chance to show the world what we can do.  So don’t hold back.  I won’t be.”

“Well at least he didn’t say anything rude.”  Yaoyorozu sighed with relief.

Iida nodded as their classmate rejoined them.  “Straight to the point, and no nonsense.  Excellent work Todoroki.”

Once again, they received no reaction.

Izuku didn’t let his mind dwell on Todoroki long since he knew the first challenge was about to begin.

He wasn’t surprised that it was an obstacle course.  He’d seen the track lay out days before and noticed quite a lot of heavy machinery on campus.  While Cementos could make a lot, the school still needed help for certain big projects.

For fear of being accused of Toshinori tipping him off- Izuku feigned surprise like everyone else.

He put a hand on Uraraka’s shoulder causing her to turn to him.  “The gate is small and everyone will be rushing through.  Be careful okay?”

She nodded and Izuku sighed in relief.  He was hoping to do most of this race without using his miraculous, to lessen the chance of him losing his transformation.  But that meant he had to use brains more than brawn and time to think would be limited.

He hoped All Might was watching.  Because Izuku wouldn’t settle for second.

“Begin!”

As expected, the gate was quickly packed with students pushing to be the first through.

Izuku saw the back of Iida’s head as the boy had made it to the front without too much trouble.

Izuku glanced up as he was shoved roughly into a wall.

When there was just enough space around him, the greenette took a leap, shoving off the wall to the adjacent one.  He continued hopping back and forth, letting his flawed boots give him extra grip as he bounced above the crowd.

Present Mic’s commentary echoed through the stadium and rang in Izuku’s ears.  “AND WE'RE OFF TO A RACING START!  COME ON MUMMY MAN- AT LEAST TELL US WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THESE EARLY STAGES!”

He had not been aware that Mr. Aizawa (because who else would it be?) was intending to commentate.  He had to stifle his laughter at the very familiar sigh.

“The door.”

Izuku made it out of the tunnel in the first wave of people, hitting the ground running.

Just in time as the hall was quickly filling up with ice, pushing students to the sides.

With second’s to spare, Izuku narrowly avoided getting his feet frozen to the ground.  The claws of his shoes dug in as he tried to stay balanced on the thin sheet of Ice Todoroki had made.

Izuku’ barely managed to flail over toa wall and used that to push and pull forward.

Not the most elegant start.

Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, and Aoyama had each found a way above the ice.  And somehow Kirishima was with them?  Izuku wasn’t positive on how.

FInally on solid ground, Izuku began his hot pursuit, pun fully intended, on Todoroki and Bakugou.  The current people still in front of him.

“Ha!  I’ve outsmarted you Todoroki!”  Mineta said, way closer to Izuku than he’d like.  “Take this!”

The greenette didn’t even have time to warn him as a metal claw met the boy’s entire body, slamming him into the wall.

“More robot’s from the entrance exam…”  Izuku said, grabbing his bolas and smashing through the things head.

He couldn’t let this distract him.

+x+

Toshinori was stuck between wanting to help Inko and wanting to lean away from her.  She was shaking pretty violently and had her hands firmly grasping her knees.

“You know, it’s one thing to hear about your son fighting villains.”  She said in a very controlled tone that did not match her facial expression.  “But it’s very different to have to see it up close…”

He honestly didn’t feel much better.  One zero pointer he had seen Izuku handle with ease.  But 6?  Well at least the boy was most likely going to avoid them as opposed to fighting…

They may be big but that made them slow.  Izuku wasn’t an easy target to hit, so if he-  Yes!

While Todoroki had frozen the robot’s in place, Izuku hadn’t stopped running.  As the colossal machines were stuck- Izuku took first in the running with Todoroki following close behind.

There were several microphones that were on both the robot’s and around the course.  For privacy sake, none of what was said would be heard by anyone but the teachers.

Which meant they heard what the boy said as he cleared the zero pointers.

“Careful, I froze them while they were off balance.  On purpose.”

The ice was cracking, and the robot’s began to fall.

“CLOUT!”

Chapter Text

Izuku had heard Todoroki’s words as the sound of groaning metal began to fill the air.

His eyes had darted back to see people had already started making their way through the pass of the robot’s.

For one moment, he was back at the entrance exam about to watch Uraraka be crushed.

“CLOUT!”

Spinning on his heel, Izuku was swinging his arm in a wide arc upwards.

The wind force of his attack swept into the air and the galeforce winds caused the zero pointer’s entire form to be severed down the center and be flung away from the course like they had been fired out of a cannon. The pieces hit the other machines, and like dominoes they landed outside the track.

Several students had been knocked back as well, but that just meant they were far, far away from the colossal robot’s falling remains.

“Incredible! Student 1-A15 took the fake villains down like it was nothing! He’s never even fought them before, but still handled it with ease! It’s almost unfair! But Student 1-A04 stepped in to save his fellow classmates, just like he did at his entrance exam! This isn’t the first time we’ve seen him bat villains away like they were nothing!”

Izuku however, was not so pleased with the outcome. Not only had Todoroki put their classmates and fellow students in danger, but he had apparently done so on purpose! Plus Izuku hadn’t intended to use his power any time soon, if at all during the race. Now he had a few minutes to finish or else he’d be screwed!

Grunting in frustration as Mr. Aizawa explained the tactical reasons behind Todoroki’s play and Izuku’s precision at clearing the field, Izuku knew he only had a short amount of time to get the race done, or else he’d have a lot to answer for.

There was a piece of robot lying on the ground. Figuring he could at least hide himself from the camera’s should his transformation fall, Izuku grabbed it and used his bolas to strap it to his back.

Present Mic’s ever present commentary meant Izuku knew that most of the others had recovered from their shock and were moving on.

“Wow! Student 1-A17 is blasting past the competition! Eh- Eh-.... I waste my best material on you. And right behind him are Students 1-A13 and 14. These kids sure are stealing the spotlight!”

+x+

Toshinori sighed, “Well- I wasn’t sure what I expected…”

“My Izuku is a creature of habit…” Inko agreed. “And there goes little Katsuki. Well at least he appears to be having fun.”

Bakugou’s expression did not allude to ‘fun.’

“How many obstacles do they have left?” Toshinori leaned over to Powerloader who had been one of the ones to plan the course.

“The bridges and the mines. We’ve gotta leave time for commercials.” The man explained. “How else could we afford this shit every year?”

That meant that Izuku had 5 minutes to both get through a rope course and a minefield.

Yeah, this was going to go well.

“Izuku’s classmates are all doing well.” Inko added.

Toshinori nodded, “As much as I prefer they didn’t have to deal with it. They all learned something very important when fighting those villains. They won’t hesitate, not for a second. Especially not now, when they are comparatively safe.”

Class 1-B was doing fairly well, as they appeared to be sticking together. But most of the general studies and support course kids were taking their time to plan since most weren’t used to fighting at all.

“The others will learn quickly though.” Inko said, ever positive. “They’re learning from example, see!”

A small group were all moving as a unit through the path, Toshinori wasn’t positive, but he could guess they were a mesh of General studies kids and who was probably two support if their gear was anything to go by.

The boy who appeared to be leading them was using a piece of a broken robot to watch his team's backs.

“Yeah, yeah they are.”

+x+

Ochaco was pretty proud that she had stayed in the middle of the pack for the whole run.

She and Mina had worked together to get around the hunks of metal the zero pointers were reduced to.

Even having seen it the first time, Ochaco would never not be amazed at Izuku’s control. He could handle the massive robot’s with ease!

Speaking of, she saw a blob of green making his was across the thin lines with an unnatural grace.

“Is that Midoriya?” Mina asked her.

“Has to be-” Ochaco agreed.

There were several different ways of crossing. The first, and most direct, was a straight shot across the gorge. But it only had a few platforms between it and the other side and there were several slopes up and down as it went. Meanwhile there were other ways that weren't as direct, but the ropes were thicker and much more taught, leaving less margin of error.

Izuku appeared to be taking one of these indirect routes as he held a piece of robot above his head and moved like a tightrope walker. If Ochaco squinted, she could make out his bolas wrapped around him and the wire as a safety line.

Tsu moved past them and made a leap above the direct line. She landed and held on as the wire bounced.

Once assured of her grip, Tsu began climbing across the wire. Her leap had already put her a quarter of the way to the next platform, so she made quick work of the rest of the way.

“Wow, she’s quick.” Mina relented.

There was a devious chuckle behind them.

A girl with bright pink locks was mumbling in a very Izuku-like manner. Saying she was going to use her ‘babies’ to get across and show the world what she could do.

Ochaco wasn’t sure what that meant until the girl called for everyone's attention.

“Behold! Wire arrows and Hover soles!!” She grinned.

“You're from support,” Ochaco realized with a start.

“Why’d you get to bring so much stuff?” Mina asked, seeing as the girl was covered in gadgets.

“You get flashy quirk training! We get to bring anything we developed ourselves! So fair’s fair! Now be glad you get to see the brilliant debut of my babies! WooHoo!”

And with a mad cackle she jumped off the edge of the gorge. Her arrow’s line was already lodged halfway across so as she swung towards the pillar’s side, the boots she wore let her glide up no problem.

“The Support Course Student 1-H02 is really showing how innovation is just as important as any quirk! It can be hard to get through these contests without a flashy quirk, but she seems to be storming the stage anyway!”

“She’s a little scary.” Mina mumbled.

+x+

Toshinori was looking frantically between his watch and the race.

Nedzu had texted him to ask how long Midoriya had left.

'About 2 minutes…' the blonde admitted.

‘Well, this will be interesting.’

Izuku had cleared The Fall fairly quickly, even with his load and indirect route.

Only Todoroki and Bakugou were in front of him, though Asui and the girl with pink hair were hot on his heels. Young Iida too was gaining quickly, even though his method of crossing the lines was rather odd.

Inko was on the very edge of her chair. “Come on Izuku.”

+x+

Izuku might as well have swallowed a rock. The looming sense of dread over him felt like a physical weight.

He only had two minutes left. But this minefield was stretching out in front of him in a way that felt infinite. Bakugou had passed Todoroki by going over most of the mines but the blonde wasn’t getting away so easily.

They were neck and neck now, trying to trip the other up while keeping ahead of the explosions behind them.

Izuku was standing at the edge of the field as Tsu and Iida passed him.

There was no way he could clear this place in the time he had left. Even if he did he’d have no cover.

A minute and a half.

“ ‘scue me greeny boy!” Said a girl with pink hair as she began judging between the barely visible spots on the ground. “Damnit, so many. My babies will be blasted!”

Izuku had no idea what that was supposed to mean- but she was right. Even as others began to pass him, they were all the most careful at the start. There were so many bombs here.

What had Present Mic said? They were big and flashy, but not too dangerous.

60 seconds.

Izuku could have slapped himself, he was trying to solve the wrong problem!

+x+

“What’s he doing?” Inko asked as they both watched Izuku- dig in the dirt?

“He’s running out of time-” Toshinori said, “He needs to move-”

+x+

Izuku took a deep breath.

He didn’t need to win before he transformed back. He just needed to hide his detransformation and win.

His miraculous beeped one more time and Izuku felt the pull of Roaar’s magic being tugged from him.

BANG!

Chapter Text

“YES!” Both Toshinori and Inko had jumped to their feet.

Izuku was not only completely hidden as his timer surely ran out- but he was now rocketing towards first place!

“That’s my baby!” “That's my boy!”

“What was that explosion!?! No way! Mid- I mean Student 1-A04 is currently riding that blast over the field! He’s catching up on first place!”

+x+

Izuku’s flight was anything but pretty. But he didn’t need it to be.

He just needed to be fast!

“HE PASSED THEM!”

There wasn’t a moment for him to celebrate his achievement. While the blast had covered his detransformation, and put him ahead of the competition. He neglected one thing in his plan.

“HOW THE FUCK DO I LAND?!?!” he screamed.

Todoroki and Bakugou had given up on fighting each other to instead focus their mutual hatred on Izuku. He was getting closer to the ground and they were going to pass him.

He needed to time this right, if he could take them both out of the running, he could sprint to the finish.

Izuku threw all of his weight into a spiral, throwing his makeshift shield down before him..

His feet hit the metal at the same time it hit the small cluster of bombs between the three students.

With a smaller Bang Izuku was pushed forward once again while Todoroki and Bakugou were knocked back.

He rolled and came up running. He couldn’t think about them, not now, all he had to do was keep his eyes on the door. Izuku was at the stairs. At the tunnel to the stadium. He was-

“STUDENT 1-A04 IS OUR CHAMPION OF THE FIRST ROUND!!”

Izuku could have collapsed in relief.

 Fuck THAT.

Small flecks of confetti from little cannons were flittering to the dirt floor, getting caught in his hair that was drenched in sweat.

The blast as his suit dropped had seriously hurt his ribs, and the leap for victory hadn’t been pleasant either. He should probably go see Recovery Girl, no doubt he’d bruised his bones which might break if he used ‘Clout’ before they healed.

Finally feeling like he could stand straight without vomiting, Izuku’s eyes scanned the roaring stands.

The teachers box was pretty high up, but even from here he could see a familiar head of blonde hair. He could imagine the smile on his mentor’s face.

Hey wait-

“YOU BROUGHT MY MOM?!?” Izuku yelled, even as it was drowned out by the cheers for his victory.

+x+

“You didn’t tell him you were coming?!”

“I wanted to surprise him!”

+x+

No time to deal with that now. (But oh boy- Toshinori was dead when Izuku got his hands on him-)

Todoroki had finished second and was looking rather shellshocked.

Bakugou was approaching Izuku, no doubt to yell, but Izuku just moved past him to Todoroki.

+x+

Shoto hadn’t expected to lose. Everything was turning out so well the entire run. So how did Bakugou catch up to him? How did Midoriya suddenly leave them in the dust like it was nothing?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and didn’t have time to shake it off before someone was very violently shaking him.

“What. WERE. YOU. THINKING!!” Midorya was shaking him to punctuate each word leaving Shoto’s head spinning when he finally shoved the boy off.

The greenette looked furious. In fact- the only other time he’d seen the boy this mad was during the USJ.

Shoto felt a chill that had nothing to do with his quirk.

“You intentionally put the others in danger!” Midoriya shouted at him, jabbing a finger at the boy’s chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?! Declare war, whatever! Try your hardest, good! But you could have stayed ahead of everyone without nearly getting them killed!”

Midoriya’s eyes were practically alight with rage. No wait- they were actually ablaze! Arcs of lightning were dancing around the boy’s eyes which had thinned to slits in his anger.

“What the hell kind of hero tries to hurt people who are not his enemy just to win?” The teen said in a chilling voice. “Are you planning to let that happen to civilians? Because that’s what most of these people are! The General Ed, Support, and Business students don’t have training Todoroki. If they had been caught under that thing they’d be crushed!”

Midoriya snarled in rage and stamped his foot. The area beneath his heel cracked with the force.

“Figure your shit out Todoroki, because the last thing any of us need is another fucking hazard on the feild.” Midoriya turned away before Shoto could even snap out of his stupor.

Oh…

oh.

Chapter Text

Izuku felt like a terrible miraculous holder.

Because the second trial of the sports festival would be starting immediately, he couldn’t duck out to feed Roaar.

He felt her stomach rumbling every now and then from her hiding spot under his shirt. There was no way he’d be able to let her recharge or transform.

“Go.” He said, barely opening his mouth. “Go, get something to eat. Find mom.”

Roarr stilled further against his side. She was clearly considering toughing it out to stay with him.

“I’ll be fine.” Izuku promised, rubbing his face to hide his words. “Just go, please.”

There was a tingle that ran from his hip to his foot as Roaar traveled through him and to the floor. She probably had seen where the teacher’s box was, so she’d just have to be careful not to be seen. Hopefully even more so than Tikki.

“Students!” Midnight was calling them forward to refocus on the large screen that would be announcing their fates.

Izuku knew that coming in first would probably hurt him more than help him in this trial. And with no chance of transforming, he was going to have to handle this problem alone.

“The Challenge will be- A Cavalry Battle!”

There was a groan heard across the collection of students.

Well- maybe Izuku wouldn’t be completely alone then.

+x+

Inko felt her purse jostle in her lap and peaked inside for a moment.

A pair of gold and red eyes were blinking up at her with a pitiful expression.

“Do you have any snacks Mama-doriya?” Roaar asked in a sad voice.

“Excuse me for a moment,” She stood and picked up her little cup of trail mix.

The other teachers weren’t speaking to her much but Toshinori did give her a questioning look.

Once in the hall she walked towards a vending machine. Setting a few sweets in her purse, Roaar immediately began to chow down.

She pursued the options and bought a few different kinds. She knew Roaar would eat anything, but she didn’t know her favorites like Izuku did. She wasn’t closer with many of the kwami even though they lived in her house.

Plagg was always around somewhere, Tikki was friendly enough, and Wayzz would often join her in the mornings before Izuku woke up. But they didn’t talk to her much. Inko had the feeling this was the first time they had gotten to interact with so many people.

The others often stayed in Izuku’s room, but Nooroo and Duusu would watch the TV and Trixx would ask her to read different books to him. He was a curious fox who liked knowing things that most kwami didn’t bother with.

They got along well.

+x+

Izuku was going to tear his hair out. While he had an easy pass to the next round if he could avoid getting his headband stolen- but he also had the biggest target on his back!

He looked around, everyone in his class except one had made it to the second round-

The one in question was currently lamenting his failing to everyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.

“I can’t believe I got knocked loose!” Mineta was sobbing as Aoyama tried to shuffle away from him despite his stomach pain.

“It’s your own fault,” Tsu told him, “Trying to hitch a ride on Yaoyorozu like that, you're lucky you didn’t get dropped down the Fall.”

With a farewell ribbit she too left the short boy, instead going to find a new teammate.

Meanwhile Uraraka was approaching Izuku. “Hey! Let’s team up!”

The greenette spluttered briefly. “What? Are you sure?”

She nodded, “If we're gonna win this we need to work with people we know and like! We’ve been a team before! We can win this!”

But now theri team was missing one small unknown member. Uraraka was making a false assumption that Izuku was as capable as he had been before.

It made him feel nasty inside.

“You should know-” He stuttered out. “I don’t think I’ll be able to use my quirk again for this round...”

If she did abandon him, she now had the best ammunition against him. People might still keep their distance if they think he’s got his ‘quirk’ to help him.

Uraraka pondered this for a second, “Damn- are you alright? Do you need to duck out to the nurse?”

Izuku promptly began to splutter again. “N-no I’ll be- look your really better off if- Why must you make it so difficult for me to let you win?” He asked, turning beet red.

Belle Ange indeed.

She was laughing good naturedly, “I wanna work with you because you're my friend. So long as you want me, I wanna work together. If you can’t use your quirk, then we’ll just think of another way around it!”

Like he did covering his detransformation- like when he got rid of the Nomu.

Izuk shoved all his doubts down.

“Your smart Izuku, if anyone knows how to win this game, it’s gonna be you.” Uraraka finished.

Izuku was crying, and Uraraka was forced to jump back as the floodgates burst.

“Oh-hck-okay!” The greenette managed to smile despite the water works.

“Aw Izuku.” Uraraka patted him on the back as he wiped his face.

He shook his head to clear it. Stop being sappy, focus up dummy!

“Alright, first and foremost- we need to find someone who can keep our morbidity up. We could ask Ii-”

But Iida was already talking to Todoroki, and if their expressions were anything to go by, that was the team.

Urarak murmured something about betrayal.

“Okay, so someone else. Who do we know that’s crazy enough to risk being on our team?” Izuku asked.

The brunette paused, “Well I don’t exactly know her but I’m pretty sure I met someone whose crazy.”

Chapter Text

Uraraka was steering Izuku around the crowd, looking for whoever it was she thought could join their team.

Apparently she found who she was looking for, a girl who was currently talking to a boy who looked very stressed.

“I- I didn’t expect to make it this far!”  The boy was bemoaning.

“You should have been more prepared!  You didn’t even bring anything to show off your skills!”  The pink haired girl was chasing him.  “You’ll need to do your best with whoever takes you.”

“You’re right…”  The boy walked away and approached a group that Izuku idly noticed had Shinsou and Ojiro.  Well at least he was getting along with the other classes.

“Um excuse me-”  Uraraka tapped the girl on the shoulder.

“Hmm?”  The pinkette turned to look at them.  “Oh!  Hey!  You're the greeney!”

Izuku nodded as the girl entirely ignored Uraraka instead getting in his face. 

“You’re in first place and you’ve been pulling off some flashy moves!  You’re gonna have all eyes on you!  Team up with me!!”

The last statement was not a question but a thinly veiled demand.

“Uh-”  Izuku looked at Uraraka for help.

“Don’t worry, she speaks your language.”  The brunette said looking amused at his predicament.

“I’m Mei Hatsume!  I need to get all eyes on me if I want to show off my babies to potential investors!  Since you’ll be the start attraction, I just need to show off as much as possible!”  She pulled a trunk from- somewhere and set it on the ground with a small thud.  She flicked it open.  “I know you’ll be able to find something you like, these are my best creations!  And none of them have blown up!  Not once!”

Both looked at hatsume’s ‘babies’ in awe.

“Air jet…”  Izuku said without really thinking as he looked at an odd backpack.

“Ooo!”  Hatsume bounced up and down on her heels.  “You’re clever, I based it on his jetpack, but with my own twist!  He’s so cool!”

Izuku felt the corners of his mouth quirk up.  “I got to tour his agency one!  SInce it’s close by and I live near here-”

+x+

Ochaco smiled as she saw that her gamble had paid off.

She didn’t know much about Hatsume, other than the girl was rather- intense.  But her determination and pride felt different than someone like Bakugou.  Hatsume was proud of what she’d achieved and wanted to show people her efforts.

She was in this for personal but not selfish reasons.  She was giving it her all without putting others in dangerous situations.

Izuku was confident, sure, but he looked- tense most of the time.

It was weird.  He had slowly relaxed around her and Iida these past two weeks.  But whenever anyone else in their class spoke to him, he looked like he was waiting for something to happen.  It was even worse with their teachers.

Izuku was smart, polite most of the time, and attentive in class.  But whenever he spoke to a teacher, he looked like there wasn’t a right answer.  Even when he was correct- he was expecting to be told he was wrong.

Ochaco didn’t understand it.

Weirdly enough, he didn’t seem tense around Bakugou despite their well known distaste.

Izuku looked down right relieved whenever one of Bakugou's outbursts started.

Like it was something familiar.

So seeing him relax with a stranger who just wanted to talk about heroes?  Izuku’s  downright favorite thing?

It was a really pleasant sight.

+x+

Inko let Roaar finish her treats and pet the magenta kwami a few times before returning to the teachers box to sit next to Toshinori again.

Izuku seemed to have finished finding his group.

“Are those his classmates?”  She asked Toshinori.

“Two of them,”  The blonde explained.  “That is Young Tokoyami, and the brunette is Young Uraraka.”

They shared a knowing look. 

“And the young lady with pink hair, I don’t know her but if I had to guess she’s in support.”  He finished.

Powerloader had overheard them and nodded.  “That's Hatsume.  She’s pretty intense but she’s good.  I’m not really surprised she made it this far.”

The calvary battle began a few moments later.

Izuku’s team appeared to be doing their best to avoid the others.  A pretty smart strategy, they had a guaranteed spot in the finals so long as they kept Izuku’s headband on his head.

“Do you think they’ll be playing keep away the whole time?”  Toshinori asked her.

He may be Izuku’s hero mentor, but Inko had over 10 more years of experience with how the boy thought.

“Oh I doubt it.”  Inko explained.  “I mean, he’ll probably try, but no doubt he’s already planned for the worst.  If his headband gets stolen he’s got a plan to make up for it.  He’s going to play things as safe as possible right now.  Especially since he’s got others relying on him.”

Chapter Text

Izuku, as a rule, tried not to be cruel when he fought. Even if he had a particular distaste for someone. Even if that person had a glaring weakness because they were for whatever reason half assing everything.

So his primary goal for now was to keep to himself, and observe their opponents. He hadn’t gotten the chance earlier in the first round, so he needed to take this time to wisen up. He couldn’t do something stupid or risky, for the sake of his teammates.

“DEKU!”

Speaking of stupid and risky.

“Tokoyami-” Izuku barely had gotten the words out before Tokoyami’s dark shadow was smacking Bakugou away.

The blonde flailed slightly before his teammates caught him and pulled him back to them.

“Nice work! If he tries that again- try to get him in a spot Sero can’t grab?” He suggested.

“I will try.” The boy nodded.

“Uraraka, you’re doing excellent, let me know if you need some recovery time?” He asked the brunette. Their plan relied heavily on Uraraka being able to keep them weightless.

She nodded but didn’t speak.

“My babies are working perfectly!” Hatsume cheered as they began their descent.

Izuku’s eyes roved over the playing field, class 1-B was split between three groups. One was picking a fight with Bakugou, kwami saved them, and the other was caught by Todoroki’s ice. They appeared to have just given up.

The last group was the only one that had gone after them so far. Izuku knew that if they got close enough they’d start sinking into the floor again.

So best to keep their distance, or perhaps they could use it to their advantage?

No, Izuku shook his head as they touched down. Focus on defense right now, offense should be his last resort.

+x+

Izuku was doing well. There was a slip up where he’d almost gotten blindsided by Todoroki’s group, due to Young Iida’s sheer speed.

But apparently they had realized the plan and gotten into the sky just in time.

With team Todoroki stalled out, he decided to use that to his advantage and Young Tokoyami’s dark shadow managed to grab one of the headbands Young Todoroki had already taken.

This ensured that even if they did lose their last points, that at least they had some back up.

Present Mic had a hell of a time remembering to call the students by their ID’s instead of their actual names. Several times he almost said something before they heard a small thud and a yelp.

If Toshinori had to guess, that was Aizawa kicking him.

When the timer ran out, Izuku’s team still had their 10 million points, plus a couple hundred from the teams combined score and the band they got off of Todoroki.

Team Bakugou had taken their own headband back, and were now securely in second.

Team Todoroki still managed to get third.

And to the shock of everyone, the mishmashed team of general studies, hero students, and one support course also made it through.

Izuku had secured another victory and carried his team to the finals. Or more accurately they carried him, he just brought the points.

+x+

Izuku felt on odd numb sensation wash over him.

He shouldn’t be this worked up over this. He should be happy.

And yet he was silently crying like a little baby into Uraraka’s shoulder.

She and Tokoyami had thankfully pulled him out of the arena very quickly to spare his tears from live Tv.

“I don’t know what’s going on but take your time.” The brunette reassured him, patting his back while Dark Shadow poked at him despite Tokoyami’s protests. Hatsume had disappeared and returned with a water bottle.

Izuku shouldn’t feel this messed up. He knew that.

But he had done it. His team had won!

He had made the plan, led his team, and played to everyone's strengths.

And without a quirk or miraculous.

For the first time in his entire life.

Izuku Midoriya had been allowed to be quirkless, and be celebrated.

Chapter Text

When Izuku had gotten his tears back under control, he drained the water Hatsume had given him.  They rejoined the rest of their classmates, they had barely been gone more than a few minutes, but Izuku still felt like he had wasted a lot of time on that little break.

He needed to get over himself and keep his eyes on the task at hand, not blind himself with crying.

Cry on the inside, he told himself, like a winner!

Midnight was explaining the games for students who didn’t make it to the final round.  But first that students would be given time to rest up and get lunch.

And Izuku could tell by the ache in his ribs he'd best get to Recovery Girl before he strained himself any further.

Once they were dismissed he thanked his teammates again for their stellar performances and left for Recovery Girl.

He didn’t make it very far.

“Midoriya.”

Oh well, here we go again.

“Todoroki, can whatever it is you have to say wait like 10 minutes?”  Izuku begged.  “Cause I feel like I’m gonna puke if I don’t at least get some painkillers-”

This appeared to shock the teen but he nodded after processing this information.

“You can walk with me if you want?”  Izuku offered.  “It’s not that I don’t want to listen, even if it’s another declaration of war or something…  But I kinda need to go now or I’ll get a whole lot of shit for it later.”

He still needed to kill Toshinori for bringing his mother to watch him injure himself live.

Todoroki nodded again, and fell into step beside Izuku.

“I didn’t see you get injured-”  Todoroki asked cautiously.

Izuku shook his head.  “I didn’t want to draw attention to it, but I bruised my ribs to hell and back with that flashy end in the first round.  I might have rolled my ankle too?  Not sure, it hurts a bit but not too bad.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Izuku smiled, but there was something sour in it.  “Villains aren’t going to wait for me to get better.  So I have to tough it out sometimes.  It’s not exactly healthy, but neither is our chosen line of work is it?  I told my team, so they could cover my weaknesses and I theirs.”

He would have liked to keep it a secret altogether but he wasn’t about to pull a Toshinori when there wasn’t any need to.

Once in Recovery Girls office, Izuku submitted to her checking his ribs.  Apparently he’d been lucky to not break anything and he stuck his tongue out at his reflection at the sight of his chest being purple and blue.

One kiss on the forehead later and Izuku found breathing became a bit easier again.  His ankle also felt better.

After thanking the woman profusely, Izuku stepped out to see Todoroki still waiting patiently to speak to him.

“Here.”  Izuku pointed to a door.  “It’s pretty far from the vendors so I doubt anyone will mind if we talk there.”

They stood outside for a few minutes.  Despite his hunger and eagerness to find Roaar, Izuku felt he should wait and hear Todoroki out.  The other boy looked very frustrated, but Izuku was starting to think it was more towards himself than Izuku.

“You didn’t use your quirk in the last battle-”  Was what Todoroki finally managed to vocalize.  “But you could have-”

No actually he couldn’t have- but whatever.

“When you used it during the first fight.  Being so close by- I could feel the power behind it.”  The boy continued and Izuku tilted his head to show his attention.  “It’s more than just strength, you're channeling so much power through your body.  It might make a weaker person break.  The way you move, the way you react.  It’s familiar.  It’s just like All Might’s-”

Izuku nodded.  It’s not like it was a secret around his class anymore.

Todoroki changed the direction of the conversation rather abruptly.  “My father is the number two hero.  You must know that already.  So if you're All Might’s sidekick, it just solidifies why I need to beat you…”

“Why?”  Izuku pondered, wondering where this conversation was going.

“My father was never able to beat All Might.  Not that he’s given up trying.  He’d do anything to dethrone him.  He has done everything.”

Izuku wasn’t sure he liked where this was going.

“Midoriya- have you ever heard of quirk marriages?”

The greenette nodded, definitely not liking the implications of that question.

“They were a big problem, in the first few generations of quirks- people wanted to make more powerful children.  And it got- bad.  A lot of people were forced into relationships, it was justified as old fashioned arranged marriages.”

Izuku swallowed the know in his throat.

 “Oh- your mother..?”  the other nodded.  “I’m so sorry.”

“My father wanted to get his hands on her quirk, so he could make an heir who would usurp All Might.”  The implications were sickening.  “It’s- it’s annoying.  I don’t want to be that scumbags tool.  I don’t want anything to do with him…”

Izuku thought of all the whispers that followed Todoroki everywhere.  How people would comment on his skills and accomplishments, and attribute each and every one to his father.

He wasn’t sure he could live with the disgust of those associations.

“I can't remember my mother ever being happy- not really.  She couldn’t even look at me most days.  She once called my left side unbearable, then- she poured boiling water on my face.”  He gestured to his scar, the ever present red blotch that Izuku had never dared to wonder about.

He didn't need to wonder now.

Chapter Text

“You picked a fight with me- just to piss off your dad?”  Izuku asked for clarification.  He was ever so slightly offended, it could at least have been like- because of Izuku’s skills or something.  Not just because he was All Might’s ‘sidekick.’

“If I beat you, and only use my mother’s quirk, then I’ll show him that I reject his power.  That I’m better than he’ll ever be, and I don’t need his damned fire quirk.”  Todoroki finished.

Izuku- supposed that made sense.  In the most fucked up, you need therapy, possible.

The teen hummed in acknowledgement, it was strange.  They were apparently more similar than he had ever assumed, one parent household for most of their lives, questionable childhoods, adults who were better examples on what not to aspire for.

But Izuku’s mom loved him, and now he had Toshinori and all the kwami backing him up.  The danger had always been the rest of the world.

But Todoroki’s threat was at home, and had a shadow that loomed over him at all times.

“I get it.  I don’t like it, I don’t agree with it.  But- I guess I can see your train of thought.”  Izuku said, choosing his words carefully.  “But just to be clear.  I’m here to prove something too.  I do have people who have helped me, and I want to show them how far I’ve come.  So I’m sorry, but I have no intention of losing either.”

Todoroki seemed to accept this statement, as he did little more than nod.  “All Might.  You want to prove you’ve got what it takes right?”

Izuku was pretty sure the outcome of the fight would have little effect on how Toshinori thought of him, but he did want to show off just a little.  To let his mentor and mom see that everything he’d worked for wasn’t going to waste and that they didn’t have to worry about him all the time.

He wanted to show the kwami how fiercely their guardian would defend them.

“It’s strange.  Iida mentioned that he started training you when you were 11.”  Todoroki continued.

Damn you Iida, Izuku’s tragic backstory™ was his business to share.  Then again maybe he should have clarified that he didn’t want most people to know that.

“Yeah- similar quirks and all-”  Izuku didn’t like where this was going for very different reasons than their previous conversations.

“And yet,”  The boy continued.  “Isn’t it weird that the number one hero just happened to find a child with a really very similar quirk.  What an odd coincidence that must have been.”

The greenette gave what was definitely not a very convincing smile.  There was no way Todoroki was believing that it was purely his shit luck, even though that was the truth.  “W- what are you implying?”

“Tell me the truth- Midoriya, are you secretly All Might’s kid or something?”

Izuku choked on air and began hacking into his hand, his coughs mixing with laughter.  “No- haha- no that- oh damn.  I mean- I never met my dad, but it’s not All Might.”

Fuck, Izuku was not ready for that.

“But seriously, that's not it.”  Izuku amended.  “I mean, you’ll probably assume I’m lying- but yeah- no.”

“If that’s true, then please explain.”

Izuku scrambled for a lie that would make a modicum of sense.  “Ah well um- maybe you’ve seen the guy with the blonde hair that looks a little like he’s dead, he’s around campus a lot.  That’s Toshinori, he’s All Might’s manager and so when he found out about my quirk, he told All Might.”

Thank goodness for that Manager lie.

“So he’s your dad?”

“ No! ”  This conversation had derailed so fast.

“But you are close to him?”  Todoroki pushed.

“Yeah.”  Izuku rubbed the back of his neck.

“He came to the sports festival with your mother, right?”  Todoroki clarified.

Okay, how in the hell did he know that?

“Yeah- yeah they uh- uh-”

+x+

Toshinori and Inko both looked down at their phones as a message popped up from Izuku.

‘Had to lie to cover my ass, If my classmate asks, you two are dating.  Also, do you still have Roaar with you?’

Toshinori began spitting blood into his knees while Inko fell off her chair from laughter.

Chapter Text

Izuku was very quiet while he ate his lunch, not that his friends didn’t try to pull him into the conversation.  He was itching to reunite with Roaar, he had never gone this long without his kwami.

Here reassuring weight in his pocket was so painfully absent, which did not help the swirling thought in his head.

Izuku dumped his half eaten lunch in the trash and booked it back over to the stadium.

Though he did take a moment to glare down Mineta and Kaminari for their attempt to trick the girls into joining the cheerleaders the school had hired.

Iida was doing the public service of verbally assaulting the offending two while Yaoyoruzu slapped her forehead for almost believing them..

On his way back he messaged Toshinori to bring Roaar to class 1-A’s waiting room so Izuku could meet them.

Sure enough the blonde was present when Izuku opened the door, and a blur of magenta was pressing into his face.

“Izuku!”  Roaar nuzzled against him, purring excitedly.  “I missed you!  You did so well!”

“I missed you too.”  Izuku let her rub against his cheek as he released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.  “I missed you too.”

Roaar curled up on his shoulder and let her tail wrap around his neck, a soft weight on his shoulders that was more comforting than the baggage he now needed to unpack.

“You did great, kid,”  Toshinori ruffled the greenette’s hair.  “And look- I really did think Inko told you she was coming-”

“That’s not important now.”  Izuku cut him off.  “Toshinori- how much do you know about Endeavor, outside of hero work I mean?”

+x+

Izuku was still reeling slightly when Ojiro and one of the boys from Support both backed out of the finals.  Sure it may have been the more honorable thing to do, but it's not like they didn’t still perform the actions that got them to the finals.  Even if they didn’t remember.

He reached into the box Midnight offered each of them to draw his lot.

Apparently he’d be up first because of fucking course he was.

And once the bracket went up, he saw he’d be fighting Shinsou from General studies.  Figures as much, his luck had been turning that way.

And if he made it past that, and that was ‘if’ because now was not the day to deal in absolutes, he’d either fight Bakugou or Uraraka.

Izuku wasn’t sure which of those he dreaded more.  While he wasn’t overly pleased with the idea of fighting a friend, he wouldn’t insult her by holding back either.  But fighting Bakugou was a headache he didn’t want to deal with.

He wouldn’t face Todoroki unless they both made it to the finals.

“Izuku Midoriya, so we meet again.”

Izuku totally did not jump, definitely not.

Shinsou was giving him a weird look.  “So are you excited?”

“Uh- y”  Izuku started to say, but was cut off by a tuft of blonde hair hitting his face.

The purple haired teen laughed a little and walked off.

“Ojiro, what the hell?”  Izuku asked, spitting out a bit of hair.

“Listen, you can’t say anything to him okay?”  Ojiro told the boy frantically.  “I think it has something to do with his quirk?  I don’t know?  Look- let’s go talk somewhere else.”

+x+

Inko had snuck into the student section rather easily, since Toshinori wasn’t there to stop her, she didn’t feel like waiting.  Not when she had people to see.

No doubt Toshinori would be waiting to talk to Izuku, so she made her way around the arena looking for someone else.

“Hello Katsuki.”  She grinned as the blonde stiffened and turned to her.

“auntie inko-”  The words left his mouth in a whisper.

+x+

Katsuki was mad at Deku.

He had made their moms mad at each other over a whole lot of nothing.

Now Auntie Inko and the hag were yelling, and not the way she normally yelled.  This wasn’t aimless shouting, it was filled with more emotion than he had ever heard before.

Stupid Deku, he should have kept his mouth shut.

+x+

“You’ve been doing very well all day, I thought I would come say hi before you start the finals.”  Auntie Inko continued in a calm but pleasant voice.

Katsuki bristled slightly, “Why do you care?”

The woman’s face softens marginally.

“Katsuki- did you really think I’d ever stop caring about you?”  She asked.  “You're still my nephew whether you like it or not.”

She patted the boy on the shoulder.

“And because I care about you, I want to see you do better.  I want to see you be better.  You have a lot to give the world, and you could make a great hero.  But I also know that you’ve been told that your entire life.  And you stopped caring about those things that matter more than fame or skill.”

“I want to win.”  Katsuki told her.  She acted like that was a bad thing.

“And what do you plan to do when you win?”  She asked.  “Who will want to celebrate you if you leave yourself friendless.  You have a chance to make friends who want more from you than just your fame.  I hope you use this chance before it passes you by.”  She hugged the blonde quickly and he did nothing to stop it.  “I have to think of Izuku first, you hurt him a lot.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive that.  But for your sake more than anyones, do better.  I’ll be rooting for you if so.”

The woman handed him a bag of sweets and left him alone to go speak to her son before his match.

Katsuki just stared at the wall and thought.

Chapter Text

Izuku kissed his mom on the cheek before she left to go back to the stands.  Toshinori walked him to the gate of the arena.

“You’ll be fine.”  Toshinroi ruffled his hair one last time.

Cementoss had just finished setting the arena and Izuku heard Present Mic getting the audience hyped up.

Izuku glanced at the photo of him that appeared on the screen.  His smile was deceptively positive, he had been shaking like a leaf when it had been taken.  Shinsou’s meanwhile had the same expression he had every time Izuku had met him.

“First ups, Taking first in both events so far, will his winning streak last?  Student 1-A04 of the Hero course!”

Izuku swallowed his anxiety and forced a smile onto his face.  His eyes flicked to the teachers box where his mom was waving aggressively.

“Versus- Student 1-C12, who had been creeping up on the competition all day!  Who knows what this fight will be?!  Rules are simple, immobilize your opponent or force them out of the ring!  You can also win by getting your opponent to cry uncle!  And bring on the injuries because we have our very own recovery girl on standby!”

“Don’t phrase it like that.”

“Put your morals aside and don't be afraid to fight dirty!”

“Don’t Phrase It Like That.”

There was a cough, no doubt from Present Mic getting glared down by his co host.

“But uh- no life threatening sh-crap folks.  That's not okay.  Heroes are supposed to throw villains in jail, not kill them.”

Cementoss made himself a seat to watch the fights from and sat down, “I’ll stop anyone who gets too rough.”

Izuku took a deep breath.

“So you can just give up then, huh?”  Shinsou asked, and Izuku raised an eyebrow at him.

“This is a test of spirit which means you can’t worry about what anyone thinks of you.  That monkey wat talking about pride earlier-”

“That’s quirkest,”  Izuku said, mostly on instinct.

“-but I just think he’s an idiot for throwing away his chance like that.”  Sinshou finished as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

“And that’s a statement.”  Izuku added in.

The purple haired boy seemed to stumble over that.

He was sincerely hoping that Shinsou was just trying to piss him off and didn’t actually believe any of this himself because that would be a bigger can of worms than Izuku could deal with right now.

“I think you got issues.”  Izuku shrugged.

“Yeah?”  Shinsou raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

And everyone in class 1-A and several students from general studies slapped their foreheads in unison.

“Oh Midoriya you dumb aaaaaaaaass!”  Ojiro groaned into his knees.

It had done the trick.

“He does seem to think with his heart over his head…”  Uraraka added in.

Ojiro had quickly explained his worry about the fight to his classmates before it began.

Meanwhile several students from the general studies course were giving quiet laughs as the greenette turned to leave the arena.

“I mean- I’m not surprised…”  One said.

“Yeah- I just wished he could have gotten a bit of a fight in. “  Another added, “He’s been practicing really hard all year.”

“There’s always the other matches.”  The first reminded the class who all nodded and got ready to cheer for their classmates' victory.

+x+

Izuku would slap himself if he could move his hand.

There was a rustling of paper over the loudspeaker before Present Mic gave a short explanation on Shinsou’s quirk, one that Izuku knew and should have been better about avoiding.

He could almost hear the kwami teasing him already.

“You just couldn’t go one day without getting your two cents in.”  A voice that sounded like Trixx rang through his mind.

No wait- not through his mind, to his left.

“Guess I gotta pull you out of trouble kit.”  Trixx whispered into his ear from a hiding spot in his hair.

What the fuck?

“OW!”  Izuku grabbed his hand as he felt a sharp pain reach it.

He felt the telltale surge of a kwami run down his leg and through the floor.  Trixx really was here, and bit him!

The small puncture wound was the least of his worries though.  He stumbled back from the line that would mark him out of bounds.  

He then slapped his hand over his mouth to not repeat his mistake.

This was going to be an odd one-

He didn’t really want to risk injuring Shinsou, and the boy deserved a chance to show off his skills right?

Okay- hand to hand fight.  No talking.

And boy did Shinsou try to get him to talk, either by trying to anger him into responding or by trying to play off of Izuku’s nonsensical need to spout his thoughts out loud.

As well as spouting several statements that reinforced Izuku’s opinion of him.

Damn this kid had issues.

Izuku grappled with the slightly taller boy and began pushing him towards the boundary line.

Finally realizing that Izuku’s mouth would be staying shut, Shinsou started fighting back.

Izuku felt a slightly sloppy punch connect with his cheek.  He tasted blood as his teeth cut the inside of his mouth.

He used one hand to shove Shinsou back another step while the other rose to guard his chest.  A smart move as that was where the next punch was aimed.

Izuku could tell that his opponent wasn’t used to fighting, not the way Izuku was.  Shinsou had no doubt been self taught, while Izuku had learned from a pro.  Both how to fight with and without a quirk to maximize his odds.

So he dodged each telegraphed move.  When Shinsou aimed for his head again, Izuku caught the punch, trapping the teens wrist and pulling them both further from the edge.

This was their chance to show what they were made of.

Izuku felt a stomp on his foot but didn’t let go, he twisted, pulling Shinsou off balance as Izuku brought a knee to meet the boy's stomach.

They both needed to show their best.

Shinsou stumbled and Izuku took that chance, dropping to the floor and sweeping the others feet from under him.

The purple haired teen groaned from his spot on the ground.

“Hey-”  Izuku said, “You done?”

Shinsou paused, then stood up.  “No.”

Izuku nodded.

And they began again.

Chapter Text

The fight wasn't long, not really. It was maybe five minutes of Shinsou attacking and Midoriya meeting him at each blow.

But Izuku made no attempt to push his opponent out. Instead, everytime Shinsou fell, Izuku would wait for him to get back up again.

Several times he even threw out suggestions.

Several of the teachers sat perplexed, Hizashi leaned over to Shouta at the 4 minute mark and finally asked him. “Dude, what are they even doing.”

“Midoriya’s got him beat and they both know it.” Aizawa shrugged. “But he’s giving Shinsou the chance to show his spirit, that he’s not giving up and he’s got more to show than just a quirk. It's not a fair fight, but Midoriya is just trying to give him a chance.”

“Isn’t that a bit patronizing?” He asked and received another shrug.

“Look,” Aizawa pointed down to the students. “They’re smiling.”

+x+

When Shinsou fell for the final time and Izuku asked him if he was done, he nodded, letting himself just lay there for a second.

“You know, I never get to spar with people my age.” Izuku said, panting as he leaned onto his knees. “This was fun, we should do this again sometime.”

“Yeah.” Shinsou nodded. “You seem nice.”

“I certainly try.” Izuku grinned.

Midnight, also accepting that Shinsou wasn’t going to get up again, declared Izuku the victor and a mixture of applause and conversation filled the air.

+x+

“I’m next.” Uraraka stood.

The class offered her well wishes, as the brunette left them to go get ready.

+x+

Izuku offered his opponent a hand and hoisted him up when he took it.

“Well! That was a weird first match, but both of you fought bravely! Let's give them both some love, everyone!”

A more eager round of applause started as Izuku fiddled with his hand.

“Seriously though-” Shinsou asked him, tone light. “How did you break out of the brainwashing?”

Izuku hummed and lifted his hand. “Something bit me.”

He felt the same haze go over him for a second but it broke just as quickly.

Shinsou laughed. “You really are lucky- and you are way too trusting. Most people are all tense when they talk to me, even after you knew my quirk. Keep your guard up, or someone is going to use that against you.”

Izuku gave a small chuckle, “I will try.”

The separated, Shinsou stopped to talk to his classmates who were leaning over the side of the stands to talk to him.

Izuiu meanwhile walked towards the place where he came in, where Toshinori was still waiting for him.

A blob of orange tried to zip past him and Izuku caught it.

Holding Tirxx, even as the kwami looked smug, he gave the little creature an unimpressed look.

“And what exactly are you doing here?” Izuku sneered.

Trixx did not even have the decency to look apologetic. “I came with a holder of course!”

“Ugh, Mom!” Izuku rubbed his face.

Inko had a habit of taking Trixx places without telling Izuku.

Toshinori chuckled at their interaction, it being a very familiar one. “At least he snapped you out of it.”

Izuku grumbled as he released the kwami who flew away, no doubt back to his mother.

“Hey-” Toshinori put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “I heard some of the things he said. I know that must have been painful-”

The greenette looked at the floor.

“I know it sucks- that you can’t say anything. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Izuku shook his head. “It’s no one's fault.”

“Still, I’m sorry.”

A few solitary tears hit the dirt floor, but the rest were pushed away as they both walked back to the waiting room.

Izuku took a deep breath.

They rounded a corner and Izuku caught a glimpse of red and white hair.

“What do you want?” He heard the teen ask.

Izuku put a hand up to stop Toshinori.

“You're acting disgracefully Shoto.” Said a voice Izuku could guess the origin of.

Oh hell no.

“Todoroki!” Izuku said cheerfully, as he fake casually entered the other hall. “Boy that was something, I wonder how your match will go!?”

Izuku tried to ignore Todoroki’s confused expression as he felt a second pair of eyes glare at his back.

“Anyway, you should go get ready for your match, I’ll walk you to the waiting room!” And he pulled his classmate by the arm away from Endeavor who he didn’t even spare a glance at.

Once they were far enough away Izuku let go and stopped walking.

“Why’d you do that?” Todoroki asked him, looking just as confused as when Izuku cut in initially.

Izuku shook his head, “Because, he doesn’t deserve a second of your time. Focus on your next match, and I’ll be meeting you in the finals, okay?” He managed a much more genuine smile.

“Right-” Todoroki managed to say.

Izuku gave him one last smile before turning on his heel and heading to the stands.

Meanwhile, a very scrawny blonde man was having a staring contest with a man who didn’t recognize him.

“It seems my boy has a very high opinion of yours.” Toshinori said plainly.

“He should.” The number two hero turned and walked away.

“And yet my opinion of you has dropped significantly.” Toshinori mumbled at the man’s turned back.

+x+

Izuku found himself in the stands with his class after a short elevator ride. He looked around as he sat down next to Iida. “Did I miss Uraraka then?”

“Yes, she left a few minutes before.”

“Figures, I had to veer off track to deal with- somethings.” The greenette was not willing to go into it, either the kwami or spilling their classmates trauma to his mentor.

“Do you think Bakugou will hold back?” Iida asked as they settled in to watch.

“No.” Izuku said plainly. “No he won’t.”

(Edit:) Bonus- have a Fox Inko (with bonus bonus-Kit and soon to be Corpse)

Chapter Text

Ochaco steadied her nerves as she looked out onto the battlefield.  She wondered if The Guardian was watching.  She wondered if Wayzz was too.  She hoped they were.

She knew her parents would be.

The brunette shook her head and pulled her hair up into a short ponytail.  She didn’t want to risk it getting in her face, or burned for that matter.

Bakugou was one of the strongest people in her class.  She knew he had an expert control over his quirk, and that he wasn’t going to go easy.

She was glad, because she wouldn’t either.

+x+

Izuku had a few ideas on how this fight could go, and several plans in Uraraka’s favor.  But he didn’t want to voice them, less he sound like he lacked faith in her.  If she asked for his insight, he’d give it freely.  But if Uraraka wanted to do this on her own, then he wasn’t going to butt in.

“First up!  He was kind of a hot shot in middle school- And just look at that determined face!  Student 1-A17 of the Hero course!”

There was a general shout of applause as Bakugou stepped onto the field.  He had been pretty showy all day, so no doubt people were eager to see him go no holds barred.  As if he had before.

“Versus!  Also from the Hero Course, a high flying student in her own right! Student 1-A05!”

Izuku tried to force the nervousness out of his posture.  Bakugou may be dramatic, and showy, and he was not known to hold back.  But he wasn’t going to seriously injure a classmate.  Not if he didn’t need to.

For one, it would look really bad on him, and potentially get him disqualified.

But secondly, that would be a very intentional act.  One Bakugou tended to reserve for people he openly despised.  And unless he held her friendship with Izuku against her, Uraraka probably wasn’t even on Bakugou’s radar until today.

Once the match began Izuku forced his breathing steady.  And a small smile formed on his lips.

Daizzi had once told him that there was joy to find in everything.  And that finding it was what separated the dreams from the nightmares.

He was about to watch two of the most skilled and capable people he knew show their worth.

And how could he not be excited about that?

Uraraka moved first, she was fast, way faster than most would anticipate.

“Right hand-”  Izuku said at the same time that Bakugou began to move.  “He’ll stay low-”

Sure enough, instead of the big right hook Izuku had gotten familiar with, Bakugou made a sweeping motion- Izuku was shocked to realize it looked a lot like how he himself had taken down the zero pointers that very day.

Maybe Bakugou paid more attention than he thought.  He was just trying to bat her away since he couldn’t risk her touching him.

Smoke and dust had filled the stage, and Izuku strained his eyes for a better view.

Bakugou apparently saw more than they did because another blast had him connecting his palm to the floor.  But Izuku saw Uraraka, sans jacket, weave around Bakugou entirely while the blonde was focused on whatever he had just attacked.

“Woah!  She flew her jacket over as a decoy! What incredible-  Ow!”

“Don’t telegraph the students' attacks before they happen!!”   Mr. Aizawa sounded genuinely annoyed.

Bakugou had spun and met Uraraka again.  She bounced as the blast knocked her to the edge of bounds but managed to catch herself.

As more smoke and dust filled the stage, Izuku’s eyes flicked around eagerly, absorbing every second of the fight.

“She’s not slowing up-”  Jirou said, sounding worried.

“Bakugou’s reflexes are lightning fast,” Kaminari added.  “She can’t reach him.”

+x+

Ochaco rolled as another blast sent her stumbling back.

She felt a bit of spit dribble down her face as she yelled and spat to get it clear, ladylike be damned.

She couldn’t let up- not yet.

+x+

IIda leaned over to Midoriya as several people began complaining about Bakugou’s attacks.

“Midoriya- what- huh?”  He got a better look at the boy's face.

Unlike the rest of their class who looked a mixture of terrified and disgusted, Midoriya looked like a child on christmas.

He was practically bouncing with excitement even as their teacher told the audience to shut up.

“What’s with you?”  Ojirou asked the greenette.

“Uraraka is one of the coolest people I have ever met!”  He cheered.

The entire class looked at him in a mixture of shock and awe.  And without a word, Mirodya casually pointed up.

They all followed his finger to the sky.  Massive amounts of rubble were floating above the stadium.

All this they saw, just in time for it to fall.

+x+

Ochaco didn’t risk releasing the meteors until she was already moving.  If Bakugou was focused on her still- he wouldn’t be able to counter the meteor shower she’d created until it was too late.

Izuku once told her that the more Bakugou sweat, the more power he had behind his blasts, so she had tried to force him to stay stationary.  

Now was her best shot.

Bakugou’s right hand raised to meet her but was forgotten as the other rose to try and defend himself.

Ochaco felt the power of the blast above her head as she rolled as low to the floor as possible.  She threw all her weight forward, she knocked Bakugou off his feet with a full force body slam.

She tried to grab his arm but felt a searing heat graze her left ear and a ringing downed out the falling rubble.

With a yell she snapped a hand forward and felt a leg.  Her quirk buzzed under her finger tips and Bakugou yelled as he began to float up.

Uraraka felt her head spinning and her stomach clench.

Bakugou wasn’t steady, even as he continued to blast himself back into the ring.  He wasn’t out of bounds yet.

Uraraka stood, ready to keep fighting.  She just needed to push him out-  That was it.

Her knees shook and buckled.  And black danced at her vision.

She shawlowly breathed in the dusty air.

Sorry- she was done for now.

Chapter Text

Izuku sighed as Uraraka was wheeled off by the stretcher robots to Recovery Girl.

Uraraka had put up a crazy fight and succeeded in catching Bakugou off guard.  But she had overtaxed herself in the end.

“That was great-”  He grinned as he finally settled back to watch Kirishima and Tetsutetsu’s rematch.

“Poor Uraraka-”  Tsu said.

Izuku laughed, “Poor Uraraka?  Poor Bakugou!  She scared the shit out of him, and that is not a pleasure I get to experience nearly enough!”

Maybe it wasn’t obvious to anyone who didn’t know him, but Izuku had seen the blonde’s expression fade from shock to actual fear when he laid eyes on that meteor shower.

“No doubt Uraraka made a way better impression on the crowd too.”  Iida added, “Since they seemed disinclined to cheer on Bakugou.”

“Yeah- she’s in a better spot than he is, regardless of losing.”  Izuku could gather as much from the surrounding chatter.

He stood, preparing to go and meet her.

+x+

Ochaco reached up but stopped herself from scratching at the burn cream Recovery Girl had applied to her temple and ear.

She had told her that after she got some of her stamina back a little bit, that another round of healing would leave her good as new.  The majority of her energy had been used to fix her ruptured eardrum.  

The skin and a bit of her hair that had been burned off itched like hell!  She kept having to remind herself to leave it be.

She watched her phone ring, her fathers contact clear on the screen.  She let it ring out, not ready to talk yet.

The door opened and Izuku came in, reacted rather visibly to her injury, and she quickly reassured him of her health.

They both stood to leave the room open for their classmates

“You did amazing!”  He told her after calming down.

“I didn’t do that well,”  She waved him off.  “I lost.”

“Lost?”  Izuku asked incredulously.  “Who gives a damn if you won or lost?!  You kicked ass!”

As Izuku continued to babbel about the match they both began to walk back to the stands, leaving the room open for their classmates to use.

Iida met them halfway and they all settled down to watch before the latter had his own match.

Ochaco stepped out as they watched Kaminari get his ass handed to him.  Giving Iida a good luck before she went

She pressed the call back button and barely had to wait a second before the line connected.

“Hey dad,”  She leaned against the wall.  “Sorry I missed your call-”

+x+

When Ochaco came back it was time for Iida’s match.

“You alright?”  Izuku asked, his look was non-judgmental at her red eyes and tear stained face.

She sniffed once and drank half of the water bottle she had bought.  “How do you still look normal after you cry Izuku?  Tell me your secrets?”  She gave him a watery chuckle.

Izuku smiled calmly.  “I cry a lot, and I learned not to sub my eyes too much.  Helps with the swelling.  Besides, don’t be too down. They say crying brings out the color of your eyes.  So I’ve got that going for me.”

She snorted and finished her water.  “You're right about that.”

“Aw!”  The greenette said playfully, “You think my eyes are pretty.”

Ochaco laughed loud and brightly at his antics, “Sure, after you're done crying.”

+x+

Izuku chuckled and looked back down at his notebook.

“Uh- Izuku,”  Uraraka looked over his shoulder.  “I’m not sure that's legible.”

He hummed and glanced between her and the notebook.  “Oh, it’s coded.”

Toshinori had looked at his note, and abruptly brought up that they were good enough to be used against the people they were about.  So Izuku had quickly locked away his old notes and started writing his new notebooks in a code he’d developed.

The only people who could read it besides him were a few of the Kwami.  Neither his mom nor Toshinori had been able to crack it.

Kaminari got his ass handed to him by one of the students from class 1-B.  At least he had the chance to show off a bit of what he could do, but the fight wasn’t exactly long.

“And I don’t think that's even a language…”  Uraraka continued as Izuku’s mumble fell into a weird set of melodic nonsense.

Izuku blinked.  Oh.

“It’s a really old dead language.  I learned it because I thought people would assume I was humming instead of analyzing.”  In truth it was a language the kwami had taught him.  It was definitely old, seeing as it was one of the first languages ever spoken.  TIkki said that the first mage who created the miraculous would speak to them in chimes and notes until they learned human languages.

The tradition of teaching it had been passed down from one celestial guardian to the next since that day.

“Shouldn’t you like- relax before the next match?”  The brunette asked him.

“Analyzing is how I relax.”  Izuku told her with a small smile.  “It's not everyday I get to see so many interesting quirks, outside of our class I mean.  Uh, hold on- here!”

He showed her a page with a rather impressive sketch of her in her hero uniform.  Next to it was a whole slew of notes that she couldn’t begin to understand.

She laughed at the sheer amount he’d managed to document, “You know, I never thought my quirk was super complicated or anything.  I’m surprised you were able to write so much down…”

Izuku shrugged, his smile still plain on his face.  “There’s always new stuff to learn about quirks, I barely understand my power half the time.  Besides, not all of this is about your quirk specifically, I also noticed your fighting style or how your mobility.  You’ve got a lot going for you.  And that’s plenty of inspiration.”

Uraraka blushed slightly at the compliment and shoved his shoulder playfully.  “Yeah yeah, don’t keep complimenting me- you’ll give me a bigger head than Bakugou.”

“Iida’s against Hatsume right?”  Uraraka confirmed to him.

Izuku nodded and they both gave each other looks of open concern.

They knew- logically, that Hatsume had no interest in winning.  But they also knew she had every intention to show off.

“Iida’s wearing some of her gear isn’t he?”  Izuku said, stifling his laughter.

“Yeaaah-”  Uraraka said, also looking amused.

“Oh poor poor Iida.”

“Yeaaaah.”

Chapter Text

In Iida’s defense, he took the fight like a champ.

About 7 minutes into the ‘fight’ Uraraka left to get a drink and still managed to get back before the end.

They were prepared to place bets on how many gadgets were left when Hatsume finally stepped out of bounds, meaning Iida was moving on.  Izuku hoped he had managed to keep some of his pride intact.

“He’s so trusting.”  Izuku said as Iida looked halfways between yelling and crying.  “She probably made it sound like she was doing him a favor- poor Iida.”

“Say what you want about Hatsume,”  Uraraka nodded as she drank the last of a second ginger drink Izuku had gotten her.  “The girl is passionate.”

“For sure…”  Izuku sighed.

Iida stumbled back to their seats bemoaning the events of the match.

“You did your best, and you’ll have more chances.”  They both assured him.

“Ugh-”  Iida slammed his head against the table.  “So far all I’ve managed to do is embarrass myself.  First with my balancing act in the first round.  Then stalling out in the second- this whole day has been one failure after another.”

“IIda-”  Izuku patted his shoulder.  “That’s not fair to yourself.  You got over the Fall in record time, it took me way longer than I would have liked.  And yeah maybe your plan to catch us off guard failed but that was 70% dumbbell luck that I realized what you were doing.  You’ve made it this far because embarrassment be damned, you’ve overcome every challenge they’ve thrown at you.”

IIda raised his head slightly, “70%?”

Izuku laughed, “Okay 75%, but I’m not begrudging you anymore than that.”

They all shared a laugh as they watched Ashido take on Aoyama.  Izuku hadn’t known how well Ashido could use her acid to her mobility, he’d have to remember that for later.  Aoyama meanwhile, seemed to once again succumb to his stomach pain, letting Ashido catch him in the jaw.

Between the two, the girl was clearly stronger so Aoyama went down without much of a real fight.

The fight between Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami on the other hand was vastly different.

“What do you think Midoriya?”  Iida asked.

“This one will depend on timing.  Both of them have good offense and defense.  So it’ll all depend on who can strike first, and if the other can match them.”  He explained.

Tokoyami was better prepared and Dark Shadow was only barely blocked by the other’s shield.

Izuku saw her scrambling to make a weapon.  But nothing came out of it.  Dark Shadow was maintaining their onslaught.

“Come on Yaoyorozu-”  Izuku mumbled.  “Move- move-”

Izuku knew the outcome the second the girl's shield hit the floor.

“She’s no good under pressure.”  Izuku sighed.

“Huh?”  Both looked at him just in time for Yaoyorozu to be pushed out of bounds.

“She’s so focused on what to make that she froze up.  She needed to keep moving, keep to the middle of the stage.  Dark Shadow has no cover, they’re in full sunlight.  She could have worn them both down.  But she got too wrapped up in how to show off her quirk- she didn’t give herself the chance.”  The greenette explained, scribbling something into his notes.

Izuku’s analytic skills were something he took a lot of pride in how well he hones them.  Toshinori once told him if hero-ing for whatever reason didn’t work out, a career in quirk counseling would be very lucrative.

“I’d hire you.”  the man had said.

As he finished penning his notes with a final whistle to complete his thought the next round started.

The fight between Tetsutetsu and Kirishima went exactly as anyone could have predicted, a draw.  Izuku hummed and chimed in smaller, subtle ways.

He’d need a new notebook soon.

As both were wheeled off to recover from their mutual blackout, Izuku snapped his book shut.

Veridian eyes flashed gold with interest and focus.

Sero did his best, his excellent reflexes let him snag their classmate easily, and he had the strength to throw the teen out of the ring.  If Todoroki didn’t have good reaction time, he’d be out in less than a second.

But Todoroki did in fact still have excellent reaction time.

Izuku looked on in awe as the glacier that was formed on the battlefield.  He knew Todoroki was strong, he had to be to survive the hell he’d been put through.  But he also knew the elemental had excellent control over his quirk.

This was not control.

This was a divide in emotion and thought.

If Duusu and Nooroo were here they’d probably be shaking, and not from the sudden temperature drop.

Izuku’s eyes flickered again as he looked down to their classmates.

He sighed, Todoroki might have looked emotionless to anyone else.  But Izuku could see the tension in his posture.  The way he wasn’t quite looking at anyone, head turned to the floor even as the ice started to thaw.

He just- looked so sad…

Chapter Text

Izuku eyed his hand with a sharp gaze, the small puncture wound of Trixx’s bite had begun to scab over.  He didn’t feel like going to Recovery Girl over something so small.  So he’d just have to keep it in mind.

Kirishima’s rematch led to the redheads victory.  Which meant it was Izuku’s turn again.

He stepped into the waiting room and paused as he entered.

Yaoyorozu and Ashido were sitting at the table, the latter appearing to comfort the former.

“Oh, hey Midoriya!”  The pinkette waved him over.

The other rubbed her eyes, “Sorry, do you need the room?”

The boy's expression softened into an easy smile.  “Just to chill for a bit, I don’t mind you guys being in here.”

“Midoriya-” Ashido looked between the two of them.  “You’re like, the most hero-ey person in our class.  Can you please tell Yaomomo she did fine?”

The greenette blinked slowly.  He didn’t want to be an ass, but lying also sounded bad… “Do you want me to be blunt or-?”

The dark haired girl pressed her face into the table with a pitiful sound.  Ashido did not look happy with him.

“I’m not saying it to be mean!”  Izuku explained quickly, “Look- it ended pretty fast.  You didn’t get to do a lot.  But like- whatever?  It’s not the end of your hero career by any means.”

This got both girls to look at him with a mixture of confusion and exhaustion.

“You still made it to the finals of the sports festival.  That’s really hard!”  Izuku waved his hand to emphasize his point.  “And you already know you're good.  You were one of 4 people to get in on recommendations, you’ve fought actual super villains, you’re like the smartest in our class.  So what, you lost 1 fight in your freshman year?  So has almost everyone here!  That just means you have room to grow.”

He fiddled with his hand again.

“So what you really need to think about is what will help you with that.  You’re probably going to get a good amount of offers from pro heroes.  So find ones that can push you in the fields you struggle in.”

The next match was set to begin so he stood as the girls processed what he meant.

“Oh- you wasted all your time talking to us!”  Yaoyorozu panicked as she realized the time that had passed.

Izuku shook his head, “nah I don’t mind.”

The others stared at his back and were shocked to hear the final words from his mouth.

“This won't take long anyway.”

+x+

Izuku tried not to be cruel when he fought.  He tried to give people the chance to show their best.

But right now.  He was just tired.

The rest of the day was looming over his head.  He had so much to get done…

He managed to keep up his positive attitude among his classmates.  But that was slipping through his fingers like sand.

He needed a break if he wanted to keep up the smile for much longer.

As he stood across from his friend turned nemesis a very traitorous voice in his mind that sounded like Plagg suggested he just wrap things up quickly.  And for just this one moment, he was willing to listen.

Midnight announced the start.  

Bakugou opened his mouth.

And Isuku very casually, flicked his finger.

The force behind the movement was so imbalanced, the room didn’t have time to blink.  With a deafening roar of the air being displaced, a wall of force smacked into the blonde.

Bakugou spun out of control, straight from the ring.  He stumbled head over heels, flying past the boundary line- down the stairs, and back through the hallway he’d exited from.

The fight ended just as fast as it started.  He may have just broken a record.

Izuku looked at his hand, the cut had opened up again.  Yeah, definitely had to keep an eye on that.

+x+

Toshinori and Inko shared a look.

That was an uncharacteristically quiet fight.

She fiddled with her bag.

“I’m gonna-”  Inko pointed over her shoulder.

“Yeah- we probably should.”  Toshinori nodded and both very quickly stood up and left.

Chapter Text

Izuku was happy to see the waiting room empty when he stepped in.  He needed to get his head back on straight.

“ Stripes off. ”  He said with an exhausted sigh.

“Kitten?”  Roaar asked, even as she began chewing on the treat he had offered her.

Izuku let a smile perk at the corners of his lips, the endearing phrase only ever came out when she was concerned.

“I’m okay Roaar,”  The greenette scratched the kwami under the chin.

She purred in delight and finished her bite, before curling up around Izuku’s neck, letting her tail swing idly at his collar bone.

Izuku leaned against the table.  He picked at his hand, the bite mark had widened with the force of ‘Clout.’  The marks had gone from pin pricks to papercut sized slits in his skin.  A tin drop of blood hit the table and Izuku jolted as it did.

A swipe of his hand cleared away the liquid and Izuku forced his hands to play with his bracelet instead.

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Izuku looked up to see his mom and Toshinori coming in.

He didn’t have time to open his mouth before his vision was obscured by a wave of green hair.

“Mom-”  He grunted as his balance got thrown off and he reached out to catch them both.

“We’re sorry!”  Inko shouted, as Trixx flew from her purse and joined Roaar around their guardian’s throat.

“Huh?”  The teen patted his mom on the back.  “You didn’t do anything.”

Toshinori handed Izuku a very sugary looking coffee, “Yeah, we didn’t.  We didn’t realize you’ve been putting way more on your shoulders than you should.  Again.”

Izuku’s eyes shot to the floor.  Or, what he could see beyond his moms back.

“You’re taking everyones problems and making them yours because you want to help everyone.”  Inko said, into her son’s shoulder.  “But no one can carry all of that.”

“Not you, not me, not anybody.”  Toshinori agreed.  “You’ve already taken on so much, you're still a kid Izuku.  Don’t forget to be a kid while you still have time.”

Izuku hid his face slightly behind his mother.  “i can’t…”  He whispered.

“Why not?”  Toshinori asked.

The greenette gripped the back of his mom’s sweater, “Because if I don’t do something- then how do I know someone else will?  When people ask me for help, I need to help them.  I can’t just expect them to wait for a miracle…”

“That’s not strictly true.”  Trixx reminded him.  “Sometimes, a miracle is exactly what someone needs.”

Izuku stared at the kwami’s violet eyes and a silent conversation passed between them.  Izuku’s eyes pinched in contemplation.

“Just for today,”  Inko suggested.  “Just focus on the festival okay?  Think about yourself for right now.”

Izuku tapped his toe against the floor.  “What if I just make- one person’s problems mine?  That’s reasonable right?”

They both looked rather unimpressed.

“Just for a little bit I swear!  Like- for 10 minutes, tops!”  He gestured dramatically, causing the kwami on his shoulders to laugh merrily as they were bounced about.  “Then I’ll be selfish for the rest of the day!  I promise!”

While focusing on winning a competition instead of taking on problems no teen would be expected to fix wouldn’t usually be considered selfish, in ‘Izuku-land’ it was.

His insistence was reminiscent of a child explaining why they should have 10 more minutes at the playground instead of going home.

The two adults realized this around the same time and started laughing.  Izuku, also hearing the oddness of his statement, began to laugh as well.

“Alright,” Inko conceded, but you’ve only got 10 minutes.  Any more and we make you stay home from school for a relaxing day.”

The teen vocally protested such an idea.

“You have two rounds left.”  Toshinori reminded him.  “Use your 10 minutes wisely.”

The greenette nodded, “Lucky for me Tokoyami and Iida both seem pretty happy with how today is going, and have yet to exposit any trauma to me.”

Thank kwami for these small mercies.

Chapter Text

Izuku spent the next few matches just wandering the lower halls of the stadium, letting his brain think about a whole lot of nothing.

He did pause at a few points to peek in at the matches, and was happy to see Iida reclaim a bit of pride as he won his second round.

That did mean Izuku had to face him next but that wasn’t the feelings he wanted to feel right now.

Tokoyami and Ashido’s match went just as quickly as he’d anticipated.  It’s kind of hard to melt a shadow.

+x+

A spiral of blue and white formed a portal on the roof of the stadium.  A man with cloud-like white hair stepped out and was closely followed by a girl in shades of teal and blue.

The man surveyed the area around them, seemingly content they would be left alone as the portal closed behind him.  His clothes were finely tailored, with a white tailcoat embroidered with silver threads.  His undershirt was a pastel blue, and his pants were of a slightly darker hue.   All together his cool tones pallet made him blend in rather flawless with the sky around them.  Two black rabbit ears were poking out from his hair and his eyes were a brilliant shade of red.

“Pretty spot on.”  The man nodded once to himself as he observed the field.  “We’ve got about half an hour before the semi-finals.”

Meanwhile his companion was much younger, perhaps a teenager, but not by much.  Her hair was made of silver wisps that twisted into a braid.  Gold ribbons and beads were also woven into the braid, glinting from under her hood.  Her clothes appeared much more casual, dark blue leggings under a large teal leather jacket.  A diamond pattern ran down the spine of the jacket and golden studs were seen at the corners of the collar, pockets and wrists.

The girl in teal sat down cross legged and retrieved a lyre from her back.  At a light strum of the stings, the wires vanished and a white void opened for the girl to reach her hand into.

She retrieved two candy apples and passed one to her companion.

“You’ve come prepared!”  The man said cheerily, his ears flicked around, eagerly listening into the conversations below them.

“Hero of intuition and foresight.”  The girl reminded him, taking a pair of sunglasses from the lyre before putting it back behind her.

“Probation-hero, Delphi.”  He flicked her forehead.  “Don’t think I won’t drag you right back home and make you wait until you're 18.”

“It’s not like I’ve done anything.”  She hissed, rubbing the spot on her forehead as she sat criss cross and pouted with her elbows on her knees.  “No one else had to wait until they were 18.”

“Yes, and that is a lesson I choose to learn from history.”  The rabbit hero took another bite of his candied apple.  “And that’s what we're here for anyway.  Look- it’s almost time.”

+x+

Izuku stretched briefly as he prepared himself.  This was technically the second time he’d fought Iida, but during the battle trials Izuku had been more focused on getting Bakugou's attention.

Not to mention the tight hallways and sharp corners of the fake building had been a much better field for Izuku, letting him vanish into the shadows and make hasty escapes.  Iida had been limited, as going too fast was a one way ticket to hitting a wall.

But now, out in the open, the taller boy had a much bigger advantage.  Izuku needed to keep his wits about him and move quickly once the battle started to not just get pushed out of the ring.

His bolas was swaying around his waist, acting like a tail to portray his emotions.  Izuku promptly coiled it up so no one could see.

The crowd cheered when he stepped onto the field.  And an equally deafening call followed Iida out.

Izuku grinned at his friend and offered a wave as they made it to their starting positions.  He got a sharp nod in return, but the corner of Iida’s mouth was twitching up to a smile.

“Ready-”

Izuku took a deep breath, Iida shifted his weight, ready to sprint.

“Set-”

In the wise words of a long defunct, pre-quirk video game franchise that Toshinori had insisted he play-

“Begin!”

Gotta go fast.

Chapter Text

Izuku moved himself further into the arena, getting as close to the center as possible but he didn’t dare stay in one place long.

Iida was already stirring up dust with each pass he made at Izuku who was narrowly able to dodge each one.  He swung out his bolas, limiting the others ability to charge him without risking a painful attack.

Izuku dug his heels into the ground as he watched, eyes sharp, each trail of dust connecting to each other as the blur of navy blue that was his friend only paused briefly between charges.

He began to mumble in whistles and notes again as he found the pattern of each movement.

One- two- three- fo- Now!

He spun round and managed to kick Iida off course, leading to the boy overbalancing and toppling.

But the victory was short lived as Iida jumped back to his feet and the dance began again.

Izuku choked on dust and began coughing into his sleeves.

His visibility and the air quality were both dropping.

Again Izuku managed to find Iida’s pattern of charges and trip him up but the downside of staying so close to the center was there was little chance of knocking the other out of bounds.

Izuku needed to shake things up.

Alright, time to test his control…

“Clout.”   he said, barely louder than a whisper to not alert anyone.

He felt the power travel down his foot and demand to be let out in one solid blast, but that would be too much.  All he needed was a little-

BAMM!

Izuku tapped his heel on the floor only letting half of the energy that bubbled through his veins out.  The ground splintered with the force and Iida was sharply thrown into the air by the shifting floor.

Izuku, finally able to spot his opponent, flung out his bolas and grabbed him.  Izuku flipped around and shoved the other teen out of bounds before landing back in a crouch, a few feet ahead of the edge.

He felt that bubbling power, only half what it had been before, dissipated back into the rest of his body and suit.  And for once, no beeping could be heard from his bracelet.  

Iida groaned in pain but sat up, clearly disappointed even as Izuku hauled him up by the arm.

“That was really good.”  Izuku assured him.

“Yes.”  Iida nodded, taking the loss with much more humility than some others would have.  “Thank you for a wonderful fight, Midoriya.”

“Thank you too.”  Izuku nodded as they bowed and left for their waiting rooms.

Once out of sight Izuku let out a whoop of excitement.  He had successfully managed to filter how much power went into a single attack and circumvented his time limit.

Once back in the changing room he de-transformed, letting Roaar celebrate with him.

This would open up so many more possibilities for him if he could perfect it.

The tiger kwami was snacking on a pack of sugary candy oranges.  Izuku took a few and swallowed them with minimal chewing.  He wasn’t the biggest fan of the taste but wanted the sugar boost.

The treats were 90% sugar syrup.

+x+

Izuku wanted to watch the final match between Todoroki and Tokoyami.  So he leaned on a railing, a ways away from his classmates.  He wasn’t sure he could take much more socializing right now.

The fight was much longer than it really had a right to be.  Dark Shadow was still doing a wonderful job keeping Tokoyami far Far away from his opponents.  Even the large glaciers of ice that were formed didn’t manage to push the teen out.  And moments later, he and Dark Shadow would break through once more.

The solution, Izuku knew, would be really easy.

If Todoroki were to use his fire, even if he didn’t attack Tokoyami with it, he could ward Dark Shadow off and force the other out of bounds.  But he wasn’t doing that.

Instead he was looking more and more frustrated.  Izuku drummed his fingers on the railing.

Finally, with a not inconsiderate amount of effort Tokoyami was trapped and both he and Dark Shadow appeared too tired to keep up the onslaught.

Todoroki, half covered in frost, spared just enough time to clear the field before leaving again.

With the final bracket decided Izuku left to transform one final time.  He saw a message from his Mom and Toshinori both wishing him luck and he responded with a thumbs up.

As he turned the corner to wait in the corridor leading to the exit, he saw an obstacle that he really didn’t have time for.

Endeavor, looking just as disdainful as he had hours earlier, was waiting in the hall.

Chapter Text

Izuku managed to pull his face into a mostly neutral expression. Covering his shock, anger, and disgust with a rather empty look.

“Ah, I was looking for you.”

Because that wasn’t the most ominous sentence in the world.

“Oh?” Izuku tilted his head, keeping his face emotionless.

“I watched your last two fights..” Endeavor continued. “To create so much wind pressure just by flicking your fingers, or to shatter the ground with just one step. It reminds me of All Might, who had a mysterious new sidekick with suspiciously similar powers.”

Izuku pulled a slight face. “Yeah, I’m his sidekick alright. Just sidekick though. Believe me, I’ve already heard the theories. Look, I don’t wish to be rude but I have to get ready so-”

He stepped past the man intent to wait as far away as possible and prayed they would be called out sooner rather than later. Given enough time he might do something considered illegal.

“It’s my Shoto’s duty to surpass All Might.”

Izuku stopped but didn't turn around.

“He will be the number one hero. And this fight will just confirm how much training he has left.”

The greenette bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying something he’d potentially regret.

“He will make a great hero someday” Izuku retorted instead. “Whether he’s number one or not won’t change that.”

The number two hero hummed, clearly not happy with that response. “Don’t disgrace yourself or him by holding back.”

“Believe me neither of us is the disgrace.” Izuku found himself saying, the words leaving his mouth with hot iron dripping from each word. Izuku felt that tell-tale feeling of lightning arcing over his eyes.

A very disgusted sound left Endeavor's mouth but neither could get another word in.

“HEY!” Izuku finally turned as he heard the familiar voice.

Bakugou was stalking over to them, face pulled into a sneer.

“Go away,” he told Endeavor, “I need a word with this deku.”

Endeavor was clearly not thrilled at the amount of disrespect coming from both teens, but couldn’t do anything about it. So he did leave.

Izuku finally let his face show his true feelings on the conversation and both remained quiet until the man was around the corner and out of sight.

“Did you need something?” Izuku finally asked.

“What did the burn-brain want?” Bakugou questioned.

The greenette knew that wasn’t it but humored the blonde. Snorting at the insult that he’d be saving for later. If there was one thing you could rely on from Bakugou, he was quirk with the insulting nicknames. “Just being a bitch and telling me to fight hard. Now what did you actually want to ask?”

Bakugou clearly wanted to snap at him but realized the time to get answers was running short fast.

“When you were talking to Icy-hot earlier-”

“You eavesdropped?”

“Only the last bit your fucking moron. I don’t care about what he has to say, I only bothered to listen because he brought up All Might.” The blonde snapped. “Listen, I don’t know how you tricked him into making you his sidekick-”

“Trick?”

“But what you said about Auntie Inko, that was a lie right?”

Izuku blinked rapidly. “What?”

“Open your fucking ears Deku! Bakugou yelled, “You lied about Auntie Inko dating the skeleton man right?”

Izuku was dumbstruck by the question. Why the hell would Bakugou care? Well whatever the reason- “No, she’s not. I just knew Todoroki wouldn’t take the truth as an answer.”

“Good.” Bakugou snapped.

Once again, why the hell did he care?

But before Izuku could possibly get an answer to that question, Bakugou was turning to leave.

It dawned on the greenette that this was the first time in over a year that he and Bakugou had spoken without yelling at each other. No punches, no explosions, no burns. Nothing.

Sure it wasn’t a pleasant conversation but it had been a conversation.

Izuku shuddered at the thought.

This day was just too weird for his liking.

Chapter Text

“Delphi-”  The rabbit hero threw a wadded up napkin at the snake hero.  “Up, the finals are about to start.”

The snake miraculous holder, who had been napping in the interim and taking the chance to sunbathe, snapped up into a seated position.  “Hg- What’s up Fiver?”

“Final match bunny.”  He told her.  “This is the big one.”

The teen quickly scrambled to the edge of the roof, overlooking the field.  She pulled out a pair of binoculars and focused on the gates that each student was set to walk out from.

“Welcome to the final battle!”   Present Mic shouted over the roar of the crowd.  “In just a moment, we’ll see which first year will come out on top!  Yes!  It all comes down to this!”

Fiver’s ears twitched at the loud noise but he did little more than wince.

Delphi was practically leaning over the edge in anticipation.  Chuckling, the man flicked open a panel on the umbrella that he’d been using to keep the sun out of his eyes.

With a click he took a photo of the eager teen and sent it to the team's group chat.  It wouldn’t arrive until he was back in his time, but they’d be excited to see it none-the less.

The younger members of the team were often cooed over by the older ones.

“From the Hero Course!  Student 1-A15!  And also from the hero course, Student 1-A04!  Both students have been having matches that are decided in an instant!  But what will happen now?!”

+x+

Izuku took a deep breath, in through his nose, out through his mouth.

His heart might as well be connected to the loud speaker with how much it pounded in his ears.  Todoroki’s face didn’t give anything away, but Izuku had a feeling his classmate was in a very similar boat.

“So, here we are.”  The other said calmly, voice tinged with anticipation.

“And only one of us can win.”  Izuku added, he let a smile creep onto his face though he didn’t entirely feel it.  “Hey, I am glad I got to face you in the finals.  Let’s make this a great fight, okay?”

He got no response, but he hadn’t really expected one.

“BEGIN!”

As Todoroki’s heel twisted, Izuku tapped into that same energy he had bubbling under his skin earlier.  With a snap of his fingers, the wall of ice that had been aiming to knock him out was shattered.

Larger fractals of ice were thrown to the floor as smaller flakes were blown everywhere.

The audience reeled as icy wind flooded the place.  Many people ducked low in their seats or covered their faces to avoid the cold air.

“Mi- I mean, Student 1-A04 managed to counter the opening attack!  Look, they're the top two, aren’t we going to announce their names anyway?”

There was the sound of a muffled thump and a yelp from the pro hero.

“OKAY FINE!  Student 1-A15 wasn’t able to knock his classmate out in a single blow.  But he also stopped himself from being blasted out by the windforce.”

Another wall of ice was sent to Izuku.  So far Todoroki had only seen him manage one attack at a time, so it wasn’t an unfair assumption that he may not be able to pull the same move twice.

“He Countered Again!”

Izuku didn’t have a perfect metric on how much power he used with each blast.  He was essentially running off of a general feeling.  But he still felt pretty strong.  He could do this.

Todoroki was trying to keep Izuku away, and had backed himself with enough Ice to prevent just being knocked out of bounds.

Izuku could tell, these were just tests.  Seeing how he’d react, and in turn he got to see a bit of how the other moved.  But they didn’t have all day to test, they needed to advance.

As the third, this time much larger, barrage came for Izuku, instead of batting it away he  jumped far above it.

The power he’d put into his leap was even less than he’d used for the snaps.

Izuku was fast.  When his feet met the floor he charged, bolas in hand, at his classmate.

Todoroki was forced to counter, ditching his platform of ice crystals to get out of the way.  When he began to form a new frozen wave, the boy rode it forward to meet his opponent from above.

The greenette rolled away, just in time to avoid the fist that created more spires to form on the sight that Todoroki’s fist met the floor.

The talons of his boots dug into the floor, keeping him on his feet and Izuku had a brief second to wish he had his jacket before he again had to meet Todoroki’s attempts to push him out of bounds.

“You're dragging this out.”  Todoroki yelled, albeit in an even tone.  “I can see my fathers face even from here.  He’s furious I’m not using his power.”

Izuku smiled.  “Well, these people have been waiting here all day, why not give them a show?”  He moved again and Todoroki was again forced to counter.  Now they both were staying on the move.

Todoroki was attempting to change the playing field, quite literally, by creating outcrops of ice that Izuku had to be careful to avoid, lest he fall and potentially impale himself on the crystalline spikes.

“You're trying to force me out of a stable position?”  Todoroki asked, voice tinged with intrigue.

“It’s only fitting, considering you have a much clearer defense.”  Izuku spun over another blast of ice.  His bolas wrapped around a larger fragment of ice which was launched at the other.

Todoroki managed to duck below it.

“Naturally, and you expect me to just stay stationary and try to bat you away.”

Izuku grinned as he launched another ice boulder at his opponent.

“Naturally,” The miraculous holder skidded.  “I couldn’t reasonably expect to just fight you from a distance.  I have the advantage on the move.”

Todoroki’s face twisted a little into a smile, even as he was being forced on the defense.

“Unless your opponent has found a way to use his quirk to move faster.”  A bulk of ice formed around Todoroki's feet in a crude form of ice skates.  “Which I have.”

Chapter Text

Now Izuku was stuck chasing Todoroki around the field, as the other made impressive bursts to keep away from the greenette.

At one point, the half red-head made an almost loop-de-loop of ice and managed to drop down on the greenette who had to dive out of the way of another attack.

“You're impressive,”  Todoroki conceded.  As the field was filled with another blast of ice, forcing him to back himself with more ice to not be knocked away.  The ice that had been shattered had begun to fall around them like snow.

Izuku grinned, “I worked really hard to become so.  Though it does make me wonder-”  His eye flickered with gold.

He snapped his hand out, ready to meet the next attack.

“Why are you half-assing it Todoroki?”  The greenette asked him.  “Everyone here is giving it their all.  And maybe they think you are too- but I can see you much better than they can.  Yoru shaking, your body is reaching its limit and you have the option to warm up again.  But you refuse.”

The smile began to fall away from the teen face and Izuku’s expression couldn’t be called friendly.

“Why are you doing this?”  He snapped.

“Because I’m the kind of person who asks- no I demand the best from people.  You’ve convinced yourself you can beat me with half your strength, and yet you haven’t been able to touch me.”  It wasn’t that Izuku wasn’t smiling, in fact his face was still pulled into a toothy grin.

But it was taunting.

“You know why I’m doing this-”  Todoroki grunted as a much slower wave of ice shot towards the teen.

“I do.”  Izuku snapped his fingers again.  “And I also know, that your father isn’t the one down here right now.  I’m not fighting him.  I don’t give a damn about him or what he wants.  So why the hell do you care so much?”

Izuku used that brief moment of shock to charge the other and meet a punch to the teens stomach.

Todoroki spun and hit the floor with a loud crock of ice below him.

+x+

Shoto felt the world spin as he flew back by Midoriya’s punch.  His spine put the floor and he shouted as a large burst of pain spread though- well basically his whole body.  He had narrowly missed hitting his head.

His entire body shook, even as he stood up.  This wasn’t over.

There was frost coating his skin, clothes, hair, even the inside of his mouth.  

A distant voice echoed in his mind.

“You're not a prisoner to your lineage, you're allowed to use your power.  To be whoever you want to be.”

There were times, he couldn’t quite remember his mothers voice.  When he tried to recall something she told him, and his mind came up blank.  Each time he wrote it off as her just not being able to talk to him so freely.

Now he just wondered if it was because he didn’t take the time to remember.

But now- her voice sounded very Very clear in his mind.

The field filled with a massive burst of flame and he lost sight of Midoriya.  Everything was so bright.  Everything was so warm.

He hadn’t considered that it might feel nice to exist in a place that wasn’t cold and walled off.

What a day.

“I admit it, you're better than I am.”  He told Midoriya, who had managed to block the flames somehow.

Midoriya spun his bolas around in a lazy circle, smile still ever confident and taunting.  “Then why do you look so happy Todoroki?”

“Because,”  He charged, the ice had melted from his right side, meaning he had full access to his ice again.  Even as the flames licked his hair and began to char his uniform.  “I know something you don’t.  I know how much I was holding back.”

+x+

Far above them Endeavor had begun to open his mouth to yell out to his son.

But the man hadn’t gotten the chance as a large chunk of ice, he supposed from the fight, hit him in the face.

+x+

Far above that Delphi grinned as her aim had struck true.  She had grabbed one of the pieces of ice that had been thrown onto the roof during the fight and used Fiver’s umbrella like a baseball bat.

The rabbit hero in question was filming with her lyre, lest they miss a chance to record this blessed moment in history.

“I love time travel.”  Fiver said under his breath as that too was added to the group chat.

+x+

Izuku managed to dodge Todoroki’s next attack by jumping high, High above the ground.

The new massive ice spire gave him space to land and the boy looked down at his opponent who rose to meet him.

“You're amazing!”  Izuku cheered, even as he had to move sideways as the other connected with the spot he’d just been.

A tug on his ankle revealed that his boot had been caught in the ice.

“I ought to be after all these years.”  Todoroki fired a blast of flame at the teen.

Izuku freed his foot with a large kick arched with power.  His bolas snagged an outcrop of ice pulling Izuku away from the fire.  And he stood again, facing his opponent.

“There’s- something I ought to tell you.”  He said, grunting as his side hit the icy wall.

Todoroki kept on the pressure.  “Tell me.”

Izuku let himself go and he began to fall, his smile was practically glowing, as were his eyes.  His voice was tinged with laughter.

“I wasn’t trying yet either.”  He said and with an arc of lightning glowing under his skin.  The teen's boots hit the floor and the battlefield shattered.

Bonus- Have a Delphi sketch

https://64.media.tumblr.com/c86b20c596498643495359dc380f9616/518d15f3b10a172a-a4/s2048x3072/714e6c5b589911f21090982953f58375e999fe00.pnj

Chapter Text

Uraraka was watching with eyes practically bulging out of her head.  Izuku and Todoroki were going at it far longer than any other fight today. (with the exception of Kirishima and Testsutetsu)

She had heard Iida mention something about Todoroki never using his fire quirk in a fight for some reason, before the taller boy had left to take a phone call.

She felt bad he was missing this.

Izuku was meeting each wall of ice with a shattering snap, and the flashes of fire with a leap or a sweep of his arm to blow it away.

So much ice had been thrown up into the air, the air being so chilled, and the force of Izuku’s punches- had begun to form into snow clouds.  It was falling over the whole stadium.

She gazed up in awe as the flakes got bigger, but the fight below them was still raging on.

The greenette had finally begun to get hit, but so had Todoroki.  Izuku’s hair looked singed and there was a thick layer of ice covering his arm.  Meanwhile Todoroki’s uniform shirt was being burnt away and there were several bruises on his face and arms.

The battlefield was now so full of craters, and ice spires that it was near unrecognizable.  And as the snow carpeted the ground, both teens were rapidly getting covered in the stuff.

Izuku’s hair was practically white from how much was sticking to it.  And Todoroki was drenched as the snow melted around him.

To her shock, Izuku managed to disappear in the new terrain, so thoroughly covered in ice he could blend in with the field.

Todoroki was still looking around and there was no evidence that Izuku had left the field so he began scanning the field slowly.

Only to be blindsided when a snowball met the back of his head.

The boy spluttered in shock, even as it melted away.  He spun around and got another snowball to the face, this time knocking him flat on his butt.

To the audience's surprise, laughter bubbled out of the teen as he wiped his face.  Gathering a handful of snow and launching it at Midoriya when he peeked out to throw another.  He too began giggling, and the sound echoed over the snow and up into the air

Uraraka found herself smiling, and her own laughter joined her classmates.  Soon all of class 1-A was laughing with the two below them.

The audience was joining in as well.  The two’s laughter was infectious.

At some point Todoroki managed to throw a snowball so off course it landed by Cementoss’ foot instead.

Finally when Izuku was close enough, Todoroki released another blast of flames.  Melting away most of Izuku’s camouflage with the proximity.  Now out in the open, a more proper fight began again.

+x+

Izuku shook his now soaked hair.

Todoroki looked a little like he'd fallen into a lake with how much water had begun dripping off of him.  “Thank you.”

The boy grinned, still full of light and joy.  “No problem.  But I think we gotta wrap up.”

The other nodded and adjusted his stance.  Izuku did much the same.

A final wall of ice was flying at Izuku, which he bounded over, skidding down at mach speed towards his opponent who had a wildfire rapidly growing around him.

Izuku pulled together every last drop of his reading power and said a prayer that Roaar could hold out just a little longer.

This was his final move as the words left his mouth.

“CLOUT!”

Chapter Text

Toshinori and Inko were both on the edges of their seats, the world had splintered around the two, even as Midnight and Cementoss had finally intervened.

Now there was so much in the air, dust, snow, steam, all polling together.

“What was that?”   Present Mic shouted, and a glance said he’d been one of the once physically knocked back by the blast.

“The air on the battlefield was cooled down and heated up so fast-”   Aizawa was saying, sounding ever so slightly rattled himself.  Though anyone else would assume it was his normal voice.

The dust slowly began to clear, and everyone waited to see what had happened to the final two students.

“LOOK!”  Inko grabbed him and he followed the point of her finger to see the smallest hint of green hair.

Just inches from the edge, hunched over, but still standing was Izuku.

And across from him, in a pile of shattered ice was Todoroki, out of bounds.

+x+

Izuku was breathing heavily, mouth dry and bones aching.  He felt exhausted.  Like he’d pushed far past a limit in far too short a time.  It was like pulling a muscle, except the muscle was his whole body.

Oddly enough, his mouth hurt a lot.

Very slowly, the greenette raised his fist into the air, blood dripped down his arm and began to soak the shoulder of his damaged uniform.  But he stood.

He won.

The crowd began to scream as Midnight announced him the winner.  Izuku let his fist drop and looked around to find the teachers booth.  He gave Toshinori and his mother the best smile he could manage despite the pain in his mouth.

“Midoriya.”  Oh- that was Midnight, she was talking to him.  She looked concerned.  “You should go see Recovery Girl, can you walk or do you need a stretcher?”

“I-I’ll be fine.”  He tried to wave it off, just a minute and he’d be right as rain.

The teacher did not look convinced.  “I think you might be concussed.”

Izuku felt the pounding in his head, like a kickdrum being attacked by a donkey.  Okay- maybe he wasn’t fine.

“I wanna walk out.”  He said, more confident than maybe he should be.

She gave him an appraising look, “Alright.  But I’m having Cementoss escort you both.”

Izuku couldn’t argue the logic in that but he did get to walk out on his own two feet.  It was important to him, he needed to let people know he could walk away from anything.

Battered and bruised, and bleeding from his hand, but still standing.  Still smiling.

Once he was out of the sunlight Izuku managed to get half way down the corridor before toppling.  Cementoss immediately called for another stretcher and Izuku didn’t fight it.

Todoroki continued to take his well deserved nap and Izuku was jealous because no way he’d be allowed to sleep unless Recovery Girl fully healed his concussion.

He really wanted some water- or a coffee.  Actually no, he felt like he might vomit, so no coffee.

Izuku was sitting on one of the two cots and while the others were focused on moving Todroki very carefully to the other he let his transformation fall and quickly tucked Roaar under his blankets and out of view.

“Good kitten-”  Me managed to whisper.  “Thank you-”

Recovery Girl quickly did tell him he was concussed, and that she wouldn’t be able to fully heal him for at least a few more hours.  Izuku managed to nod but immediately regretted it and instead made a thumbs up with his non-bleeding hand.

Since that was just the lacerations from Trixx’s bite, how much larger due to his multiple uses of clout, they were just wrapped and he was given a large dose of painkillers.

While he tried to stay awake by counting the ceiling tiles and feeling the velvet softness of Roaar’s fur, a blonde head appeared in his vision.

He felt himself smile up at his mentor.  “Heeey-”  Izuku managed.

“Geeze you are out of it.”  Toshinori said as Izuku felt someone else, his mom, take his hand.

“I’ll be okay, just gotta wait a bit so- don’t pass out.”  Izuku said, trying to focus on his mother but finding there to be two of her.  “Don- usssse mirage moooom-”

“I won't baby,”  She said and Izuku heard something wet in her voice.

“No crying!”  He managed, leaning forwards only for Toshinori to push him back.  Man these painkillers were something else!  “Ten minutes- then I just have fun.  Liiike I promised.”

She chuckled and even though she still sounded like she was crying, Izuku deemed it a win.

Something poked his arm and he looked down.  Recovery Girl was sticking another thing in him.

He tried to grab it but his mother grabbed both hands and rested hers on top of it.

“It’s your IV honey.”  She told him.  “It’s there to help.”

IV, he knew what those were.  They were good.

“Does To-todo- oki get one too?”  He asked.  If it helped, then Todoroki definitely needed one.

Todoroki needed all the help he could get.

“Yeah baby, he’s just fine.  At the moment he’s doing a bit better than you actually.”  His mom said, and she was pretty good at knowing these things.  “Rest Izuku, you did amazing.  We’re so proud.”

“You did great, kid.”  Toshinori reassured him, “Just take it easy for a bit.”

Izuku hummed, his head still hurt a bit but the pain was more distant.  He still wasn’t supposed to sleep so his mom would squeeze his hand whenever his eyes stayed closed too long.  He tried to focus on her voice.  Every now and then Toshinori would add something, ensuring Izuku knew he was still there.

Good, he didn’t want Toshinori to go anywhere.

He promised he wouldn’t, and Izuku told him as much.

Toshinori talked a bit more after that.

Once his mind had begun to clear slightly from the fog he heard Recovery girl say she could clear up his concussion, at least enough for him to go to the award ceremony.

There was a kiss pressed to his forehead and abruptly the word became a bit more focused.  The pain-killers were fading rapidly and he could actually form a few thoughts.

“Did I get hit by a truck?”  Was his first coherent thought he managed to vocalize.

This got his mom and Toshinori to laugh out loud, which only slightly worsened his headache.  Personally Izuku would be more than happy to take the pain if it meant getting to hear them laugh.

“No, but two tons of ice probably felt much the same.”  Toshinori told him.

Izuku groaned, Roaar was still cupped in his palm but if he had to guess she was sleeping.

“My mouth tastes like ass.”  Was Izuku’s next statement.

“About that,” his mom opened her phone’s camera and flipped it so Izuku could see his face.  His bruises had cleared up but the most prominent things were his teeth and eyes.

The pupils of his eyes had become ever so slightly oblong.  Nothing too noticeable, unless you knew what to look for.

His teeth had also changed, his canine teeth were much more pronounced and the two teeth below them had sharpened as well. 

He had tiger’s eyes and fangs.

Izuku poked at his teeth to confirm they were really there, “Oh- damn.”

Chapter Text

Izuku, now mostly healed and with a much clearer mind, was waiting underneath the stadium field.

Tokoyami was already there and Izuku took the chance to babble about how the matches had gone, since he hadn’t gotten the chance before.

“You are nervous.”  The boy pointed out, brushing off Izuku’s attempts at normality.

Izuku’s grin flattered.  “Ah- uh- well-”

“You are unhappy with how the match turned out?”  Tokoyami asked.  “Or is this something else?”

Izuku shook his head, then immediately regretted it as the world spun.  He steadied himself before responding.  “That’s not it, I don’t regret anything- it’s just…”

He fiddled with the bandages on his hand.

“When the class found out I was All Might’s new sidekick, you all kind of freaked out.  Apparently so did the teachers?  But at least you all got to know me before that.  To some degree.”  The greenette explained.  “But now- there’s gonna be no avoiding it anymore.  My name is about to be televised to the entire country- fuck the entire world even.”

Izuku looked up, sensing the crowd that would soon be staring him down.

“What if that’s all I’m going to be now?”  He asked.  “And what’s worse- what if I don’t match their expectations?  I might be signing away my life to stay in a shadow way bigger than I could ever dream of stepping out of.”

Tokoyami thought for a moment.  “Do you think it would be better if you remained anonymous?”

Izuku shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Maybe?”

“Well then, I doubt you will ever step out of that shadow.”  The teen said curtly.  “If you have already decided there is no point.”

“You’re starting a self fulfilling prophecy.”  Dark Shadow chimed in.

The greenette thought about this.

If he tried to stay unknown for most of his formative years as a hero- maybe that would make his personal life more peaceful.  But he’d be locking away any chance to be seen as more.  He might accidentally cement his legacy before he even made it out of highschool!

And yeah, he was stoked to be considered All Might’s sidekick.  The fact Toshinori had called him such without hesitation meant the world to him.

But if he wanted to be a hero, the kind he’d always wanted to be, he couldn’t hide now just to make things easier on himself.  Not when he had the chance to show the world everything he was capable of.

That was why All Might always said, ‘I AM HERE.’

Because it was a promise.  One that he’d proven over and over that he wouldn’t break.

Izuku needed to decide if he could make the same promise.

“You’re right.”  Izuku conceded.  “I can’t hide.  No matter what happens.”

Tokoyami, clearly satisfied, nodded.

Todoroki had finally woken up and joined them a bit before they were supposed to go up.  Mr. Aizawa appeared a minute before the award ceremony to tell them that Iida wouldn’t be joining them, as he had been called away for a family matter.

Izuku hadn’t had time to ask what had happened as they were all told to get onto the platforms that would rise up onto the field.

The teen took up his spot, a sinking feeling in his chest brought on by his missing friend.

“Don’t worry for now.”  Tokoyami reminded him.  “There will be time to worry about Iida later.  He would not want you to dwell and sour your victory.”

Izuku nodded, he had promised his mom and Toshinori that he’d be a little selfish once he was done trying to help Todoroki.  He could worry later.  Right now, focus.

+x+

“The first year students had completed all of the events for their first ever sports festival!”  Midnight announced to the students and large amount of press that had gathered onto the field.  The rest of the crowd was buzzing with anticipation.  “Now we can all relax, and enjoy the award ceremony!”

A victorious score played across the loud speakers and fireworks filled the air.

A wall of smoke and confetti slightly obscured the rising platform.

When it cleared the camera’s began flashing as each news outlet tried to get the best pictures.  This was no doubt going to be big news for the following weeks, so things like the best photo would be the best way to draw in viewers.

Izuku shifted his weight slightly, feeling the weight of hundreds of eyes on him as if it were a physical weight.  Pushing through that he did his best to smile.  He had practiced smiling through tough situations before.

(*cough* Toshinori making him drag a fridge while the man sat on it *cough*)

And he had been told they were rather convincing.

He had a slightly harder time than All Might did, mostly because Izuku’s eyes were not obscured the way the blonde’s were.

Trying to keep his focus on something more positive he scanned the crowd for Uraraka, who was clapping enthusiastically.  Their other classmates seemed equally excited, except for Bakugou who appeared to be yelling at Kirishima for something the redhead had told him.

Then he tried to spot his mom up in the teachers box but couldn’t through the dispersing smoke so he turned back to the crowds and began counting how many seats were in each row of the stands.

This worked pretty well and prevented him from just freezing up.

“In third place, Fumikage Tokoyami!” Midnight announced, letting the roar of applause die down before continuing.  “This spot is shared by student Tenya Iida, but he was called away for family matters.”

The photo of Iida that had been used at the start of each fight appeared on the screen once more, this time with his name instead of his student ID.

“In Second Place, Shoto Todoroki!”   She continued.

Izuku snuck a glance at the other.

He hadn’t spoken since he’d woken up and Izuku had been too afraid to push him to talk.

“And in first place-”   Midnight called, and Izuku steeled his nerves.  “This Year's champion, Izuku Midoriya!”

Chapter Text

Izuku listened to the deafening roar of the audience and again tried to spot his mom as he smiled.

This time he could just make her out in the teachers box, crying into a handkerchief but waving excitedly.

“Now!  Let’s Break Out the Hardware!”   Midnight announced, picking up the medals that had been on Tokoyami’s platform until now.  “And who better to hand out these awards than-”

A familiar laugh echoed through the stadium.  Izuku felt his smile grow a little more genuine.

“CITIZENS!  I AM HERE WITH THE MEDALS!”  “All Might, the number one hero!”

All Might and Midnight’s words made the whole thing unintelligible and Izuku stifled a laugh.

“...ruined that didn’t I?”   She admitted.

“One day you people will learn to rehearse.”  Izuku said through his teeth, just loud enough for his classmates to hear.

Tokoyami appeared to choke on a laugh.

All Might grabbed one of the bronze medals and Izuku heard a few of the words he exchanged with Tokoyami but tried not to eavesdrop.

Tokoyami appeared thoughtful afterwards so Izuku figured it was some sort of advice.

When All Might gave Todoroki the silver medal, Izuku heard him lower his voice quite significantly.  Acknowledging that this was meant to be a more private statement, Izuku intentionally focused on the chatter of the other students to avoid hearing anything.

He did see the hug All Might gave the boy through and saw how stiff Todoroki went, as if he was wildly unexpecting such a gesture despite the blonde having done the same for Tokoyami mere seconds earlier.

Izuku knew from the very subtle shift in what he could see of his mentor’s face, he was thinking about the day's revelations.  Rage, almost imperceptible to those who didn’t know what to look for, was plain to see for Izuku.

When the hug broke apart and Shoto went back to looking at nothing, Izuku finally gave his full attention to his mentor.

“Izuku,”  He started.  “I know I’ve already said this once already, but I’m so proud of you.”

The greenette felt his cheeks grow warm but hoped against all kwami it wasn’t super obvious.  He accepted the gold medal and felt the weight of it like a noose on his future.

“You’ve come so far already.  And I feel incredibly lucky to have been here to see it.”  All Might- no Toshinori told him.  “This is just one of the first steps to becoming a hero, but you’ve blown past all my expectations and never cease to amaze me.  You haven’t just chosen this path, you pounded on Destiny's door and demanded the chance to show the world what you're made of.”

Izuku accepted the hug and tried to hide his violently red face.

“Thanks-”  He said in a slightly watery voice.

“Anytime kid-”  Toshinori said quietly.

“Hey-”  Izuku whispered.  “When you finish your speech, just say Plus Ultra please?”

The blonde laughed and hugged Izuku a little tighter.

Once he stood up again, Izuku had composed his expression into his soon to be trademarked smile.

All Might clicked back on the microphone he’d turned off for his words with each student.

“HERE THEY ARE!  THE WINNERS OF THIS YEARS SPORTS FESTIVAL!  BUT LISTEN UP, ANY OF YOU FIRST YEARS COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS PODIUM.  THINK ABOUT ALL YOU’VE DONE TODAY!  HOW FAR YOU’VE PUSHED YOURSELVES AND HOW YOU’VE CHALLENGED EACH OTHER.  LEARN FROM TODAY!  AND YOU’LL BE GETTING EVEN CLOSER TO YOUR GOALS OF BECOMING PROS!”

If one had been able to see the man's eyes they’d get the impression he was looking at each student individually.

“NOW, I ONLY HAVE ONE THING LEFT TO SAY!  AND I WANT YOU ALL TO SAY IT WITH ME!  YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS!”

The crowd shook with anticipation and everyone raised their fisting into the air.  Izuku joined them, his bandaged hand a reminder of the day's event.

“PLUS ULTRA!”

+x+

Delphi hadn’t stopped smiling since the last match.  She was babbling excitedly as the crowd began to leave the stadium.

“What do you think my first sports festival is going to be like?”  She asked Fiver as they entered the burrow.

“I pray less eventful than that.”  He admitted as he pressed a palm to a portal that began to rapidly speed up, he only vaguely watched the major details.

“I can’t wait!”  Delphi began bouncing on her toes.  “Do you think I’d be allowed to bring Sass?”

The rabbit hero snorted a laugh, “Why in kwami’s name would you want to make that day any longer.  Take it from first hand experience, it’s exhausting to do it three times in your life, much less relive it a bunch.”

The teen rolled her eyes at him as the rabbit hole finally stopped at the proper time.

“Are you coming?”  She asked, one foot poised to walk through the portal.

The man shook his head.  “I have one more thing to do today, if you’ll remember.”

The girl's face lit up.  “Right!  Okay then, I’ll see you soon!”

She jumped out, landing on the roof of UA’s stadium, though now it was late at night and the sports festival was still months off.

Delphi lept down to the stands and continued from level to level until her shoes touched dirt.

She stood up and jogged over to the spot where the battlefield would be made soon and spun around, taking in the massive space.  Quiet now, but soon enough it would be filled with people.

A wild grin grew on the girl's face.

She couldn’t wait!

+x+

While most of the world was celebrating the UA sports festival's conclusion, and chatter began about the newly revealed identity of Izuku Midoriya, one little girl was sitting on her bed oblivious to all of this.

She had watched the sports festival, though she didn’t really understand most of what was happening and didn’t really like watching people get hurt.

The obstacle course had looked fun, and so had the game where they stole the headbands.  But the fights- those were loud and a bit more aggressive.  She would have turned the TV off, but hadn’t

“Eri?”  Said a very familiar voice.  “Are you awake bunny?”

The little girl jumped up and ran to her mirror where a small white portal had opened.

“Fiver!”  She grabbed the man's outstretched hand and pulled him into her room.

Her room didn’t have any camera’s inside it anymore, instead just one right outside the door.  And since she couldn’t unlock that, there was really no point having one inside.

But that meant she could have her friend over whenever and for as long as she wanted and no one would know!

“Hey bunny!”  Fiver picked her up and spun around eliciting a laugh from the girl.  “Did you watch the sports festival like you said?”

Before Eri could answer she was flipped upside down by one leg over Fiver’s shoulder.

“Huh?”  The rabbit looked around.  “Where’d she go?  Oh dear, I can’t have lost her.”

He turned left and right, and Eri giggled madly as she swung back and forth.

“Fi-haha- Fiver put me down!”  She said as he spun in a full circle.

“Who said that?”  Fiver asked.  “It sounded like Eri, but I don’t see her?”

“I’m beh-haha!”  Eri squealed in excitement as he spun around again.  “Behind you!  You’ve got my leg!”

The man hummed and lifted her leg a little higher, as if he had just seen it.  “Oh, I see.”

And she was pulled, right side up again and still giggling as the world spun a bit.

Fiver plopped her down on her bed and squatted on the floor to be at her eye level.

“So bunny, what did you do today?”  he asked.

“I watched the sports festival!”  She told him.  “It was funny after all!”

He grinned from ear to ear, “Didn’t I tell you?  So, did you like it?”

She nodded eagerly, “They had a snowball fight in the final match!   And the girl with pink skin is very pretty!  And the way the winner boy made his one opponent spin out of the ring was funny!   And the girl with the meteor looked just like the girls in my show!  She’s so cool”

Fiver nodded, “That’s Ochaco Uraraka.  She’s super cool.”

Eri was practically shaking with excitement, “The coolest!”

Eri babbled about other things she’d liked, slowly drifting into the other things she’d gotten into since Fiver’s last visit.

As most of their visits went, Eri found herself curled up in Fiver’s lap while he told her stories.

“What kind of story do you want to hear today Bunny?”  He asked her.

“Can you tell me about my heroes?”  She asked.

That was the best part about Fiver’s visits.  He told her that one day, she’d have her very own heroes who would beat Chisaki and take her home with them.  Like knights saving a princess.  Except these knights were real.

Now, one might wonder how she could believe such things when all evidence pointed to the contrary.  But that was the biggest secret of all.

Fiver was from the future.  So he knew all about things before they happened.  He had proven it over and over again.

“Let’s see-”  Fiver hummed.  “You’re heroes- Ah I know.  How about I tell you how your heroes found their powers hmm?”

“Yeah!”  She cheered.

“Now- how to begin.  Once upon a time, there was a boy with no quirk.  None at all.  And he wanted to be a hero, more than anything else in the world.  So he went to school and told everyone his plan, but they said ‘No.  No one would want a weak hero.  You’d better give up.’  But he didn’t, he started to train himself, to run faster, to grow stronger.”

“How strong?”  She asked.

“As strong as an Ox, bunny.”  Fiver assured her.

She nodded.

“When the boy went back to school, and showed how strong he was, he told them ‘See, now I’m strong and I’ll be a hero.’  But his classmates and teachers laughed at him, they laughed and jeered until the boy cried.  ‘No. No one would want a crybaby hero.  You’d better give up.’  But again the boy didn’t.  He wiped his tears and taught himself how to smile.”

Eri couldn’t imagine learning to smile like that, when everyone laughed at you.

“Then he went back to school, and showed everyone how strong he was.  And when they laughed, he just smiled and told them he would be a hero.  ‘See, I learned to smile, and I’ll be a hero.’  But still no one believed him.  And when he tried to help anyway?  They hurt him really bad.”

The girl looked up at Fiver with her brows pinched together and tears threatening to spill.  What kind of story was this?

“The boy was so tired.  Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered.  He thought like that until one day, when a turtle met the boy.  When the turtle asked him ‘Why do you want to be a hero so bad?’  The boy was shocked, since no one had asked him that.  ‘I want to help people.  But they won’t let me help them.’  The turtle nodded solemnly.”

“What’s so-lemme?  Eri asked.

“Solemnly, it means sad but understanding.”  Fiver explained.  “Then the turtle asked him, ‘then why do you keep trying?’  And the little boy said ‘I don’t know.  But if I don't, who will?’  The turtle liked this boy's answer.  And he told him that he would help him be a hero, and help him find others who wanted to be heroes too.”

Fiver shifted Eri slightly so he could look at her properly.

“Eri, remember what I told you when we first met?”  He asked.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good people to do nothing.”  She told him.  Fiver said it a lot, he said it was his boss's motto. 

The rabbit hero nodded, “Then remember this.  Your heroes will never, ever give up.  So no matter how bad things seem.  Promise me you won’t give up on them either, okay?”

Eri nodded slowly.  “Okay, I promise.”  She wouldn’t ever give up on her heroes.

Chapter Text

Izuku had, bessidly, made it back home without anyone hounding him.  Possibly due to his hoodie and face mask obscuring almost all of his features.  And since Toshinori and his mother were with him, they offered obstacles to obscure himself behind.

“It’s not that bad.”  Toshinori insisted.  “You’ll get used to it.”

Izuku grumbled.  “Said the one of us who can keep a secret identity.”

“Think about it like this-”  The blonde said, dropping his voice lower as a family passed them to find seats on the train.  “Right now, the sports festival is on everyone's mind.  But soon enough that’ll fade.  Then when you go pro, people don’t really expect to see heroes out and about.  It’s way less likely you’d get dragged aside in a grocery store or something.”

The greenette’s eye’s furrowed.  “I’ve been with you when you got recognized in the grocery store!”

You take two seconds to reach something on the top shelf and a swarm forms.  Thankfully Izuku had gone unnoticed that day.

“Well yeah, but I’m kinda really recognizable.  I did it on purpose.”  Toshinori waved it off.

When they finally stumbled into the Midoriya’s apartment Izuku laid down on the couch as he was swarmed by kwami.

He was asleep before dinner.

+x+

The trip back to school was another round of Izuku playing ‘dodge the people.’  He had left extra early and the rain made the streets much more empty.  But he still had several people call out to him as he boarded the train.  On the train itself, several people snapped pictures with him.

Izuku’s smile was so realistic he’d almost believe it.

Maybe someday he could smile when people recognized him.  But today his thoughts were occupied.

When Izuku saw the gate of UA come into view, he hastened his pace and crossed the threshold with a sigh of relief.

Finally, he could overthink in private.

Shaking out his raincoat, on his mother had made him with a swirl of clouds lining the cuffs, Izuku put away his rain boots and retrieved his gym uniform shirt to use to dry his hair.

Now with both the coat and shirt hanging up to dry, Izuku lingered.

Pollen had been the one to join him today, her miraculous cleverly disguised as a tie pin tucked under his jacket.  Seeing as his hair wasn’t long enough for the comb.

So he made sure both her and Roaar were still dry and clean.

His classmates filtered in and greeted him, he did his best to look cheery.

When time got close enough that Izuku was beginning to wonder if his friend wasn’t coming.  Iida came around the corner.

“Ah, Midoriya.”  the taller boy greeted.

“Iida!”  Izuku jumped, “I heard about what happened- is everything okay?”

Iida waved him off, “Everythings fine.  But thank you for your concern.”

The greenette faltered.  Giving Iida enough time to leave without the option of more questions.

“You know- it’s okay if it’s not, right?”

+x+

The chatter of theri class that morning was getting recognized.  It seemed most of them had at least gotten stares if not people approaching them.

Izuku had tuned into the conversation just in time for Ashido to shove her phone in front of his face.

He leaned back rather dramatically but at the girl's insistence took the device, and saw a picture of himself looking back at him.

‘Got to meet All Might’s new sidekick today!  #MeetMidoriya’

Izuku made a very odd choking sound and felt his face turn bright red.

“Wow,”  Uraraka leaned over his shoulder to read, “You’re famous already!”

“Oh yeah,”  Ashido clicked on the tag, revealing that it wasn't the only one.

He wondered if the floor could swallow him whole now.

Thankfully they took pity on him and went back to talking about their own experiences.  Izuku was still watching Iida, who was facing forward and not speaking to anyone.

When they heard the approaching footsteps that were very intentionally audible, they all scrambled to their seats.  So by the time Mr. Aizawa said “Morning.”  They were all in place.

“Good morning Mr. Aizawa.”  The class said back to him.  

As their teacher sat down, Tsu ribbited in question, “Mr. Aizawa, you don’t have your bandages anymore.  That’s good news.”

“Recovery Girl went a bit overboard on her healing.”  The man scratched at the scar under his eye.  “Anyways.  Now that the sports festival is over, we can go back to the usual lessons.  Today will be on Hero Informatics.”

You could probably hear a pin drop.  Izuku was tempted to test it.

“Please don’t be a pop quiz, please don’t be a pop quiz.”  Kaminari was near silently praying.

After letting them squirm for a minute, Mr. Aizawa continued.  “You’re gonna need to pick your code-names.”

The entire room jolted, and smiles spread across the faces of the class.

“This is gonna be great.”  Was the general consensus.

Izuku meanwhile was stumped.  He hadn’t had too much time to think about a hero name.

“It’s related to the pro hero draft picks that I mentioned before the sports festival.”  Their teacher continued.  “Most of the time, the draft doesn’t go out to first years, but this year it’s different.  The hero agencies are essentially investing in your talents, but there's always the chance you’ll lose that.”

“So we still need to prove ourselves after getting recruited.”  Hagakure concluded.

“Exactly.”  Mr. Aizawa nodded, he clicked the projector remote and a list appeared on the board.  “Normally the results are more spread out, but this year-”

The board showed each of the students who made it to the finals, the lowest score being Sero.  Who still had fourteen, plenty of variety to pull from.  And the most were.

Izuku felt several eyes lock onto him as his name showed that he’d amassed over 5,000 offers.

Truth be told, Toshinori had offered to let him do the work study at his own agency.  And Izuku had been expecting he’d take it due to it being a lot more familiar to him.

Now he might pick it because there was no way he’d be able to sort through this many.

Thankfully, he was comparatively close to Todoroki in number of offers.  The boy had just over 4,600.

Uraraka was bouncing in her seat at seeing she had offers.  And while Iida’s face betrayed nothing, Izuku was sure he felt some pride at the results.

Chapter Text

Mr. Aizawa turned off the projector with another click of the remote.  “Since you're going to need hero names, I’ve brought in someone else to hel-”

“To help you choose the perfect codename.”  The door slid open, cutting their teacher off.

Oh, so now they rehearse, Izuku couldn’t help thinking.

Midnight stood next to Mr. Aizawa, smiling at the class and carrying a handful of thin dry erase boards.

“Yeah.”  Their teacher continued.  “This isn’t really my expertise, so Midnight will be getting final say on your choices.”

“Yes, maybe if I’d had that option with you, you wouldn’t have taken the first name suggested to you.”  The woman nodded, a knowing look in her eyes.

Mr. Aizawa paid her no mind, already settling into his sleeping bag on the floor.  Within a minute, they could hear him faintly snoring.

Izuku took the whiteboard that was passed back to him and retrieved a dry erase marker.

He stared at the board, like it was mocking him.

Even worse, they were presenting these.

Apparently there were little standards besides whether Midnight liked them or not, as ‘Can’t Stop Twinkling’ got a pass with only minor adjustments, while ‘Alien Queen’ was rejected.

Tsu raised her hand, “I’ve got one!  Can I go next?”

Once she was at the podium she held up the whiteboard.

“I’ve had this idea for ages, ‘The Rainy Season Hero: Froppy.’  What'd ya think?”  She asked, receiving a cheer in response.

Thank the kwami for Tsu being a normal human being.

Izuku tapped the still capped marker on his leg.

There was merit in having them present their ideas like this.  If they didn’t have enough confidence to tell people they knew, how could they expect strangers to react?

+x+

“You picked Aizawa’s name?”  Toshinori asked his coworker.

“He wasn’t going to choose anything.”  Hizashi pointed out.  “I said the first thing that came to mind and he agreed.”

“The first thing that came to mind was ‘Eraserhead?’”  The skeletal man asked.

Spinning in his chair Hizashi shrugged, “I was 15.”

+x+

The class slowly roasted through, everyone getting a thumbs up.  The only pause being Todoroki choosing to use his first name.

Izuku had little wonder why.

Uraraka tapped Izuku on the shoulder, she held up the whiteboard.

Izuku read over it as Bakugou requested “King Explosion Murder.”

The greenette smiled and whispered something to the brunette which made her scribble something additional onto her board.

When she stood up and showed the room her board, “This is the name I came up with, ‘The Axis Hero: Uravity.’”

“Oh, I love that!”  Midnight cheered, causing Uraraka to breathe a sigh of relief.  “Now- we’ve been moving pretty fast with the names.  So I think all that’s left is Bakugou who needs to rethink his- Iida, Iida, and Midoriya.”

Izuku snuck a glance at his friend.

After the sports festival, Izuku’s eyesight had sharpened.  His eyes had already been pretty good, but if he had to guess, he was now a bit past the average human.

Which meant he could clearly see the beginning of a very familiar name.

After staring for a second, the boy erased it, and promptly stood up.  Iida showed the board, now bearing his first name as well.

“You’re using your real name too?”  Midnight confirmed.

Iida nodded stiffly.

The greenette slid a smile onto his face, “Oh dear, at this rate our class will start a trend-”

Several people chuckled, and Iida’s posture softened.  Right, better ask him about that later.

“Midoriya?”  The boy in question turned and nodded.

He picked at his still bandaged hand.  “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to pick?  I half considered just going with Izuku, but I don’t wanna steal these two’s thunder.”

There was a chuckle again.

“So I think- I like this one.”  He turned the board.  “The Jack of All Trades: Pan.”

Chapter Text

Izuku drummed his fingers on his leg, “I was gonna go with Pan Ichthys, but it was kinda a mouthful.  So just Pan works.”

“Short and sweet, I like it.”  Midnight nodded.

Bakugou hadn’t come up with anything better, so it was retroactively decided they’d just use his name too.

“It’s better anyway.”  Kirishima tried to calm the blonde.  “Then people know exactly how manly you are right?”

Izuku said a silent thank you to the universe for gifting them a babysitter for Bakugou.

Midnight poked Mr. Aizawa awake and he grumbled before finally rising.

“H-okay.  As for the internships, they’ll last a week.  Everyone who got offers can choose from the ones they got.  The rest of you are going to choose from a different list.  There’s a few different hero agencies that agreed to take on first years.”

Izuku bemoaned the not inconsiderable amount of agencies he had to sort through.

“Think about what you want to specialize in,”  Midnight chimed in.  “Say you’re Thirteen.  You’d want to intern with an agency that specializes in rescue heroes.  So choose wisely.”

“You’ll have the next two days to decide, so start now.  Class dismissed.”  Mr. Aizawa dragged his sleeping bag with him, already looking ready to go back to sleep.

“Why does he even come to school most days?”  Kaminari asked, though no one had an answer for him.

+x+

The teachers lounge was all a buzz as the lunch hour rolled around.

“Do you guys have nothing better to do than gossip about the students?”  Toshinori questioned, flipping through the massive amount of internship offers Izuku had received at the boy's request.

Aizawa climbed into his sleeping bag and fell onto the couch face first.  “We do not.”

“It’s always interesting to know what everyone picked.”  Snipe shrugged 

“It’s not that interesting,”  Midnight waved her hand.  “If class 1-B goes as quickly as 1-A, I’ll be done in no time.  The only one we really had trouble with is Bakugou.  His were- a tad violent.”

That had the rest of the room cringed, not really surprised.

“Someone needs to find that kid a more constructive outlet.”  Cementoss said solemnly.

Aizawa picked his head up, “I’ll talk to him-”

“It was odd, both Iida and Todoroki decided to use their first names instead of a codename.”  Midnight shrugged.

That made Toshinori’s eyes flick up from the massive pile of papers.  He changed his expression quickly and looked down again.  “Both are from hero families, they probably just want to stand out as their own heroes.”

If they noticed his tone had shifted, no one said it.

“Midoriya said he almost used his name too, but changed his mind.  ‘Pan,’ I don’t quite get it.”  She shrugged again.

“Pan?”  Toshinori’s eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, ‘Pan Ichthys’.  But he said it was short so he shortened it to-”  She blinked.  Her coworker looked like he’d bitten into a lemon.  “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

“That little brat-”

+x+

Izuku took the large stack of paper’s Cementos had sent him and walked outside instead of going to lunch.  This part of campus was more wooded, giving his kwami the chance to relax in the grass or float around him.

His mom, ever doting, had packed him a bento box.  So he picked at the food as he searched each agency, found what they specialized in, and began sorting his options.

Rescue agencies were highlighted in blue, combat heavy agencies were pink, information gathering in green.  Outliers were yellow.

He had once made a list of all the agencies that had made statements that spat on quirkless people.  They were unceremoniously crossed off.

By the time lunch was almost over he had barely made a dent, and his highlighters were almost out of ink.

“HAHA!  I AM HERE, LOOKING FOR YOU!”

Izuku had to dive on top of the paper’s spread around him to stop them from blowing everywhere.  “Yes- you are!”

He looked up at his mentor with a tired smile.

Since this part of the campus was mostly concealed, the blonde dropped his buff form.  Izuku gestured to the grass next to him and Toshinori sat, leaning against the tree that Izuku had been basking in the shade of.

Roaar had been sitting in the dappled bits of light from the leaves, but floated up to settle on Toshinori’s leg instead.

“I heard about the name you chose-” Toshinori said with a sigh.  “Flattered, honestly.”

Izuku snorted.  “Well- best I picked something else.  I wouldn’t want you to get a big head about it.”

Toshinori reached over to ruffle Izuku’s hair.  “How is- everything?”

The greenette sighed.  “I’m nowhere near done.  For every one I cross off three more catch my eye.  I’ve even gotten offers from other countries!”

He gestured to a few he’d marked with an asterisk.

“-More than half of these are because of you, you know?”  Izuku said, “I doubt I would have gotten this many if not for me being your sidekick.”

“That may be true, but it’s your performance that backs my recommendation.”  Toshinori pointed out.  “You did great, don’t forget that.”

“Yeah yeah, I know.”  Izuku sighed before mumbling.  “It just doesn’t always feel like it.”

“Izuku, every expectation people have of you, you blast past with a smile.  Then you turn around, and encourage everyone around you to follow.”

Izuku willed himself to believe that.

Chapter Text

Their afternoon classes were great for taking Izuku’s mind off of his looming decision.

As the day came to an end, he hurried out of the classroom with a quick goodbye to Uraraka.

He didn’t manage to catch Iida before the boy left, but he did find his second quarry.

“Todoroki!” He yelled, jogging to catch their classmate who had left very quickly.

The other looked incredibly awkward, “Hello Midoriya.”

“How are you?” The greenette asked, fiddling with his bracelet. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the festival ended-”

“It’s fine.” The boy nodded. “You were busy.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you.” Izuku insisted, they both began walking to the gate. “I know you wanted to win but I hope you had some fun at least?”

“I- yeah I think so?” Todoroki paused before saying much more firmly, “Yes I had fun.”

“About- what we talked about- before the tournament last time.” Izuku prompted, scanning the crowd. “I want to help, but I don’t want to overstep-”

The information had weighed on Izuku, he had that information on the back burner even while worrying about Iida.

“I- I don’t want you to do anything.” Todoroki said, his voice a careful neutral. “You don’t need to do anything.”

The greenette raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t tell you that as a cry for help. I just wanted you to know what was going on.” The boy insisted, “So, just drop it.”

“You want me t-” Izuku took a deep breath and Todoroki paused to let him decide what to say. “I don’t know if I can just do nothing. If someone is suffering, then I want to step in. But if you want me to hang back, I won’t tell anyone. I won’t kick up a fuss. Just know, if you ever need help. Ever. Just call me okay? I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

He scribbled a number on a sticky note and handed it to the boy.

Todoroki accepted it and nodded. He turned to leave and Izuku let him go.

He didn’t know what to do.

Izuku hated not knowing what to do.

“AH! THERE YOU ARE!” Izuku turned just as All Might appeared before him. “EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?”

Izuku spared one last glance at his classmate, and shrugged.

“AH, DO YOU WANNA-?”

The teen shook his head. “Nah, you were looking for me?” Later. Later.

The blonde pointed back at the school. “YES, FOLLOW ME.”

Izuku had become just a familiar face in the teacher’s lounge both before and after school that none of the other teachers paid them any mind. Said visits were usually him babysitting his mentor, and they all preferred All Might not dead so Izuku taking care of him was gratefully appreciated.

Toshinori’s desk now had the near permanent accessory of a stool for the greenette.

Said stool was promptly occupied by said greenette.

“You’ve gotten a few more offers.” The blonde explained, “But there are two that I thought you might find interesting.”

He offered Izuku two slips of paper. The boy took the first.

“Gran Torino?” Izuku asked. “I’ve heard that name before-”

“Even if you weren’t the living encyclopedia of heroes,” He patted Izuku’s shoulder causing the other to swat at his hand and cry out in mock annoyance. “You would have heard me mention him. He was my home room teacher at UA, at least for my first year.”

With a jolt the paper went slack in the teen’s hand, “The one that faked his death?!”

“Yes, that one.” His mentor looked slightly ill.

Izuku snorted. “I won’t deny he sounds interesting. You’ve played up both how cool he was, and how chaotic.” He glanced at the paper again, checking the location and noting that this wasn’t working with a hero agency, just the hero directly.

“He’s currently retired, but I doubt he let any of his skills slacken. I still write to him, and I’ve mentioned you a few times. So I’m guessing his curiosity finally won out, especially after the sports festival.” Toshinori shook the paper, “And the other-”

Izuku took it, read it, then read it again. “Huh.”

“Yeah. Huh.” Turned back to his computer, though he did nothing on it, Toshinori’s face was a carefully crafted mask of neutrality.

“Do you think I should go?” Izuku questioned. When he got no response he continued. “Do you think I shouldn’t?”

For a moment neither of them talked. Izuku read over the paper again, though he didn’t really take in the information more than surface level.

“I think you should do whatever you think will help you the most on your journey, young Midoriya.” Oh damn, he was using the ‘young’ again. Toshinori only did that when he felt he was supposed to act a certain way.

“Well- I hate to tell you this, but I kinda hold your opinion in high regard. And If I can’t get a glowing recommendation, I’m afraid I simply can’t accept.” Izuku crumpled the page up.

“Midoriya!” That was a bit better- Toshinori grabbed the ball before Izuku could throw it in the trash. “You shouldn't throw away any opportunities on my behalf! That’s just plain bad thinking.”

Izuku ran a hand through his hair. “Look- I totally understand why you don’t talk to him. I’d be pissed as well. And because of that, I don’t know if I wanna deal with your old sidekick, especially after you very publicly claimed me as your new one. So seriously, I don’t think I’m gonna take it. Nighteye sounds like a stick in the mud anyway, plus the last thing I need is him poking around my future and risking him seeing the kwami.”

The boy spun on his stool.

“Besides, I have to meet Gran Torino! I guarantee he has some prime blackmail material!”

Toshinori sputtered before finally laughing. Izuku’s own laugh joined his.

“Just a warning, if you do intend to work with the old man- he’ll never just say what he wants.” His mentor pointed out.

Izuku shrugged, subtly gesturing to his bag where the kwami were hiding. “I’m used to it.”

Chapter Text

On Sunday, they met at the school to be escorted to the train station by Mr. Aizawa.  Their teacher did not hold back when promising their fates should they step out of line.

His mother would be caring for the kwami while Izuku was gone, much easier to just hide Roaar than multiple kwami, even if they wanted to see Mr. Toshinori’s old teacher as much as Izuku did.

Izuku caught Iida by the arm as the boy left for the platform that would take him to Hosu.  Uraraka grabbed his other arm, forcing their classmate to concede to talk to them.

“If you need, call us.”  The girl insisted.  “We’re here to help, with anything.”

“Anything.”  Izuku echoed.

Iida faltered, Izuku had little to no doubt he was planning something incredibly stupid.

The greenette continued.  “Just remember you have people in your corner.  We care about you a lot, and want to see you doing better.”

Uraraka nodded so vehemently that her bang’s managed to smack Iida in the face.  He laughed, Izuku hadn’t heard his friends laugh in a few days.  “I will, I promise.”

The trio hugged, and all split off to go to their internships.

“You know you can talk to us too?”  Uraraka whispered to Izuku before he boarded his train.

“I know.”  The greenette promised.  “And you can tell me anything.  I’m always willing to listen.”

Roaar rested in Izuku’s bag, her keen hearing letting each of her kitten’s words reach her.  He had good friends.  Those three would be okay.

+x+

Izuku’s eyes flicked from the paper in his hands, up to the building he was in front of, back down at the paper, and finally back to the building.

This was the address he’d been given, but this didn’t exactly look like a place of residence.  There was a welcome sign with lights around the border, though it was lopsided, and no doubt the lights no longer worked.

Other parts of the- house(?) were falling apart.  The windows were pretty grimy, the bricks were crumbling in several places, and Izuku saw a few roof tiles on the concrete around him.

This wasn’t really a bad part of town, the surrounding buildings were all old, but in much better condition.

Weird.

“Hello?”  Izuku knocked, and the door shifted, unlocked.  “Uh, I’m from UA?”

He pushed the door open, after scanning the floor, his blood ran cold.  An old man was lying face first in something red.

Under normal circumstances, most would probably panic, Izuku might panic.  But his senses were much sharper than a normal human, and all his mind supplied him with was the overwhelming smell of tomato.

“Ketchup?”  He mumbled, approaching the man.  “Hey, sir are you-”

“I’m alive.”  The man’s head popped up from the floor.

Definitely weird.

“Are you alright?”  Izuku confirmed, offering the man a hand.  Which was ignored.

His hand was betted away, “I just tripped while carrying a plate of ketchup and sausage.

“Like- only ketchup and sausage?”  This guy was nuts.

“Now, who did you say you were?”  The man, who was wearing what could only be a hero costume, given the mask and all.

“Izuku Midoriya.”  The greenette repeated.  “Are you Gran Torino?”

“Yyep!”  The man nodded, though he didn’t say anything more, just smiled.

Izuku wondered if he should text Toshinori.  He’d been told the guy was eccentric, but Izuku didn’t expect batshit.

“Now, what was your name??”  Gran Torino asked, causing Izuku to face palm.

It was like trying to get Fluff to answer a question- “Izuku. Midoriya.”

“I could really go for some food.”  Gran Torino asked as he sat on the floor.  “I was just making some, now what did I do with it?”

“You spilled it all, remember.”  Izuku pulled the man up from under his arm, “Here, I’ll help you clean up.”

Izuku felt the other jolt.  “Toshinori?”

“No, I’m Midoriya .  Toshinori is at work- or resting.  Or at least he better be.”

If they had to postpone the lung repair one more time-

Izuku’s case with his hero costume had been sitting mostly forgotten by the door.  Gran Torino snatched it as Izuku attempted to direct him to sit down.

Ducking out of the teens arms, the man flicked the case open. Izuku groaned in frustration as his jacket was unceremoniously tossed on the floor.  He snatched it off the ground with a huff.

“Now, why don’t you fire off a One for All smash at me.”  Gran Torino said, in a very different tone than before.

“What- the- who even are you?”  Izuku smacked his forehead, then realized he had a golden opportunity.  “Look, are you gonna actually explain anything to me?  And what the fuck do you mean, what’s One for All?”

Chapter Text

The look on the old man's face was something Izuku desperately wished his mentor could see.

“Uh- Toshinori mentioned that’s what your quirk was called-”  The old man desperately tried to cover his potential blunder.

“My quirk is called ‘Superpower’ why would he call it that?”  Izuku folded his arms and cocked his hip.  “What’s One for All?”

“Oh nothing- nothing-”

Izuku couldn’t take it anymore, and a laugh bubbled out of him.

“Yeah- sorry.  Just thought I’d get some revenge.”  Izuku shrugged, “I do know about One for All, and All for One for that matter.”

There was a pause at the mention.

“But I don’t have One for All, my quirk is called Superpower, and I’m Izuku Midoriya.”  He offered his hand.  This time the hero took it and they shook hands in greeting.  “Toshinori said you’d try and pull one over on me so I thought I’d return the favor.”

“Ah, I guess that's revenge.”  Gran Torino went back to looking through Izuku’s case.  “This is a decent costume- kinda leaves you uncovered though.”

“That’s what my jacket is for.  Hitting hard from the shadows tends to be my go to strategy.  So, where do I put my stuff?”  Izuku closed the case and gestured to his backpack.

“Hmm, down the hall, up the stairs.  Pick any room.”  Gran Torino nodded, no doubt about to call Toshinori and ream him for misleading him about Izuku’s quirk.

Izuku hurried up, setting his hero costume on the bed and his backpack on the room's desk.

Roaar popped out with a toothy grin.  “Are we going out?”

“Training yes, but I think we’re staying here.  We’ll explore tonight okay?”  Izuku ruffled her fur, “All charged up?  Alright, Roaar, Stripes On! ”

Once the light of his transformation faded, Izuku dropped his coat and hoodie onto the bed.  He changed into a black t-shirt, leaving his dark magenta pants and black boots.

He hurried downstairs with just enough thought to pin his bangs out of his eyes.

Gran Torino was waiting for him.

The greenette ran a reassuring hand over his bolas.  “So you said you wanted me to fire off a One for All attack right?  Well I can definitely do something similar, but I’ve recently been experimenting with releasing power in small bursts instead of one blast.  I’ve only just transitioned from all or nothing.”

The retired hero thought for a moment.  “I noticed, I watched the sports festival, you only used one big attack on those robots, and on that boy with the explosive temper.”

Izuku snorted at the name for Bakugou.

“You didn’t use multiple attacks until the final fight.”  Gran Torino finished.

“And that was all adrenaline,”  Izuku nodded, “I was only able to pull that off with dumb luck.”

The man hummed, “Well, I’m familiar with One for All, but not your quirk.  What can you tell me about it?”

Izuku automatically fell into the familiar lie they’d come up with ages ago.  “My quirk functions like energy conversion.  I store up potential energy whenever I eat, sleep, or relax.  And I let it out as kinetic energy.  So I guess it’s kind of OfA mini form.  I just build up energy a lot faster than 8 generations.”

“Teenager metabolisms.”  Gran Torino shook his head.  “What had Toshinori worked on with you?”

Izuku tapped his fingers on his chin.  “Well, when we first met, he was trying to help me get myself out of trouble.  I was 11 of course, so we figured out a way to build strength.  Proper dieting and exercise.  Then we transitioned to quirkless fighting.  I can hold my own fairly well even without my quirk, especially with my bolas.  We didn’t start working specifically with moves similar to One for All until I was- 13?”

It had been a mess of trial and error.  All Might had been trained for a very specific power and way to use it.  But Izuku’s miraculous, while similar, just couldn’t function the same.  They had no idea when Izuku would be able to push past needing a time limit.  So they’d focused on making sure he wasn’t defenseless.

Around that time had also been Izuku’s struggle to find a solution to All Might’s injury.  A solution they were determined to keep secret until it was done.  Not just from the public, but from everyone who wasn’t aware about Izuku’s- part time job.

“SInce then, he’s taught me a few moves that translate well enough.  I’ve used a few smashes, take off and landings, but after the USJ we’ve been toying with unique ways I can use my power.”

It was a nice, long partnership of trial and error.

“Hmm, but you said up until now, that you’ve only been able to tap into that power in small bursts-”  Gran Torino hemmed and hawed for a moment.  “Alright, let’s try something-”

Chapter Text

Izuku sighed as he wandered back into his room.  He’d managed to avoid Gran Torino finding Roaar with routine bathroom breaks to recharge.  Izuku felt strained, he rarely had to fight for his time like this.

This was a different kind of training, one Izuku had long accepted he’d have to learn.  The art of keeping your secrets.

“Izu?”  Roaar asked.

“Yeah, I’m a little tired right now, but we’ll go exploring soon I promise.”  He pet the kwami on her head, causing a purr to bubble up from her chest.

The teen set his alarm, and decided to sleep for a little bit before going out.  He’d already eaten and hsi kwami had been fed, so he had nothing that demanded his immediate attention.

Before putting his phone down he texted his friends, assuming them he’d arrived at his destination and that training was going well.  Uraraka responded quickly, telling him much the same.

Iida did not respond.

Izuku groaned into his pillow as he rolled over.  He’d deal with that concern soon enough.

+x+

Toshinori did not have an office at UA, he had a desk in the office shared by all the teachers.  However, an unused classroom had recently been cleared out.  Now it just had two couches and a table in it, specifically for Toshinori to hide out and rest after he reached his limit each day.

Technically the other teachers could use it too, and occasionally would talk to parents here.  After ensuring the room was empty of course.

But the room was first and foremost used by Toshinori.

It was a great place really, the window was massive, and he could see all of UA’s campus.  But since the windows were tinted he didn’t need to worry about being seen.  There had once been a camera in here, but Nedzu had taken the opportunity to fill the room ceiling to floor with a rube goldberg machine to break it.

So now, Toshinori could deflate without any fear of being seen.  The change had been demanded by Aizawa who was sick of him hogging the couch in the teachers lounge.

“Sorry for dropping in like this-”  Tsukauchi said as he sat down, dropping his coat over the back of the couch.

“No, I’m always happy to see you.”  The blonde set down two tea cups for them.  “Besides, I’m sure you’re here to tell me how the investigation is going- and if I have to wait any longer I might scream.”

Izuku had to stop him from calling no less than 3 times.  “He’ll tell you when there’s an update!”  The greenette had said.

His old friend laughed.  When was the last time they’d had a not work central conversation.  When was the last time they’d had a laugh.

Toshinori abruptly realized it might have been over a year ago-

“We’ve been looking into the villains who attacked the USJ.  Most of them are low level thugs, and admitted to having been recruited by Kurogiri or by the others who had already been brought in.  They didn’t meet Shigaraki until day one- but there was a general understanding that he wasn’t the one in charge.”

Toshinori thought about how they’d reacted when Shigaraki and Kurogiri abandoned them.

‘Run. Run Away.  And tell whoever’s idea this was?  It's a pathetic display.’

Yeah, definitely not the ring leaders.

Tsukauchi leaned back in his seat, “But there’s only one that’s really got us stumped.  The guy we captured, the Nomu as Midoriya said it was called.  He also mentioned that Nomu can’t seem to think for himself, just follow orders.  After running some tests, we realized it can’t even speak.”

Izuku had told him as much.  Tikki had added to it. “Every creation, good or bad, it’s an aspect of me .  That was a bad creation.”

“We ran some DNA tests too-”  Tsukauchi paused.  “Remember, you aren’t on this case- this is a leak.”

The blonde paused.  “Yeah, I know.”

His friend continued, “And I’m only telling you because this has to do with you and Midoriya.”

Toshinori didn’t like that implication.

Tsukauchi took a deep breath and slid a photo onto the table, “This is the guy that Nomu’s DNA pointed to him being.  But there was evidence of at least 3 others too, and obviously he underwent major changes.  Most likely drugs and experimental surgeries, which would explain the spotty DNA.”

“Why though- why bother with splicing your DNA?”  The blonde looked at the photo and tried to find any trace of the thing he fought.  “Sacrificing your personhood for power-”

“We think- the modifications were made so that Nomu’s body could handle multiple quirks.  Midoriya mentioned shock absorption, but there’s evidence of a regeneration quirk too- maybe more.”  The detective was clearly dancing around the thing neither of them wanted to say.  “Even with the DNA tampering, there’s only two ways we know of for people to get more than one quirk- and since I doubt you or Midoriya handed over One for All to some random guy in the street-”

“Please.”  Toshinori cut him off.  “Please, just don’t say it.”

Chapter Text

The benefit of his costume being close to normal attire is people didn’t automatically register he was wearing a costume at all.

Izuku had his hoodie up and mask pulled to cover his mouth.  As such, not only did he blend into the night of the city, but he also had little chance of being recognized whenever he paused at a crosswalk.

The mask and hood definitely had their perks.  Including his kwami curled up around his neck, out of sight but able to see the sights.

Nightvision was another fun addition to the weird powers he got from his miraculous.  It wasn’t on par with anyone with a quirk, or even most goggles.  But even hours after the sun had set and the lights of the city winked out around him, there was still plenty of light for him to travel by.

“How far are we going Izu?”  Roaar asked as they approached the train station.

“Not too far, thankfully.”  Izuku mumbled climbing the steps to the platform.

Most people had already gone home, so the car only had 3 other passengers.

+x+

Tenya Iida was sitting on the bed of his temporary room.

He’d specifically chosen to come to Hosu city, the same place his brother had nearly been murdered.

But he could already tell, any and all attempts to slip away would probably be thwarted before they began.  Everyone here was very aware of him, Manual most of all.  He’d probably only get short moments alone outside the agency.

No time to go hunt down a murderer.

The sun had finished setting, Tenya wondered if he could jump out the window.

As he leaned over to see the drop he’d face, he saw something- someone?- in the space between the buildings.